February 23,2022
Sunny 32 at rising.
Presidents’ Day, and the country cannot even decide what that means…really? Have we forgotten that we used to celebrate Lincoln and Washington? That the President was not merely a man/woman/personality? But rather an ideal. A principal. A symbol of leadership to a thriving, democracy?
Reading about Whitman during the Civil War. Absorbing perhaps for the first time the unbearable anguish of the period; the wounds suffered. The personal sacrifices offered and stolen. The man Whitman recording his thoughts and actions as he moved among the soldiers. From bedside to bedside at the hospitals. As he walked along the streets of Brooklyn and Washington DC. As he interacted with family and friends and intimates, his soul aching with the questions of life and death, peace and war, art and humanity.
And wondering…will we never learn?
Jewniquely Myself 
Reblogged this on Pattys World.
Great post, Joan, reading Fordâs poems I am also struck with the deep humanistic concerns of the human condition and how war scars us all.
Given the events of the last 24 hours, I am convinced that we have not yet learned the lesson. We still sacrifice our children to the god of war, to the idle whims of our leaders, to their lust for power, fame and wealth. They are willing to risk a third world war and all that could mean to their country and the world.
So, in answer to your question in Whitman’s pen, we have not learned anything and people, innocent and guilty alike, are dying as I write this.
Win