This is a picture of West Point. The central feature of the campus is a narrow stretch across the Hudson. George Washington fortified this location with heavy guns and a thick chain just under the water to prevent the British, who controlled NYC, from moving north up the river and cutting New England off from the rest of the country. There is a Civil War memorial here at the point. Most of the battle commanders on both sides were alumni. They put cannons barrel first into the ground around the monument. Such a profound statement of frustration with the cost of conflict I have never seen. I'm linking a speech from Gen. MacArthur that seems popular here. The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
|