On the Prairie Grove, Arkansas battlefield park is an interesting sight. Two trees of obvious different species, intertwining, grown as a single living organism reaching high into the sky. The symbolism is as thick as the blood spilled and as heavy as the earth covering the bones of those sacrificed themselves for their ideals. The Civil War, the uncivil War of the Rebellion, was the most costly war in terms of human causalities. Brothers - literally in many cases - found themselves on two sides of some very important issues. One was States' rights and the power/limitations of the Federal Government in those states and the other issue was Slavery. Two emotional and combustible causes that when united served to forever change the nation. Yet, just as those two trees grew together as one, in the 1920's the last of the former enemies, now old white haired men, leaned toward each other to once more clasp hands as true brothers under one flag. They stood there, like those trees, different in views, history, and values, yet united in spite of those as brothers in a nation. Maybe we should require all politicians, and potential politicians, to tour the battlefields of America and weigh the costs of doing things to intentionally severe the ties of common unity for any purpose.
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