A Nation Divided

"What we have here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach... So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well he gets it! I don't like it anymore than you men." The Civil War officially ended in 1865 due to the Southern surrender at the Appomattox Court House. However, here we are in 2005, 140 years after the surrender, still waddling in the war. Growing up in West Virginia, I have been exposed to the "culture" of the Civil War. My hometown changed hands hundreds of times during the war. I've been to Gettysburg, Antietam, and Harpers Ferry. I've read the chapters in history books. What I still fail to realize is our glorification of this event. We don't even celebrate our fight for independence this much! Going to school in Virginia - this has become even more apparent. I've seen more houses flying the Confederate flag than the US flag. Why? Why are people more apt to be loyal to the South than to the US? Look at the map. Just look at it. Then look at a map of the election results from last November. Look similar? I think they do. I finally realize why the Confederancy won't die - it's freaking immortal! Our nation is as divided today as it was in 1865. We may have sowed the borders back together, but we still didn't fix the country. Now, instead of the South voting for slavery, they're voting for extremist Christianity - and of all things, the reversal of states rights! Case in point - the use of Congress to override a State judge's opinion in the Terry Schiavo case. Our nation has been united for brief moments in time - only to regress to our division upon a return of "normalcy." I just hope we remember that "united we stand, divided we fall." Because, "You can't trust freedom when it's not in your hands; when everybody's fightin' for their promised land."