Great Atlantic Seaboard Bicycyle Tour: Gettysburg, PA 10/1 25 driving miles; 11.4 walking miles

We spent another day among the fallen. The Gettysburg Museum, and Cyclorama Program is simply a stunning tribute to what has become known as a National Tragedy: The Civil War. Our four hour experience began with a very well done overview film narrated in large part by the accomplished actor, Morgan Freeman. We then rode dual escalators like ripe grain to the domed I-Max like display space which houses the hugely magnificent (both in scope and in size), painting by French artist, Paul Dominique Phillippoteaux. Expertly restored by David Olin's team, the painting measures 377' x 42' and is as tall as a four story building. Set in a large circle and made three dimensional with artifacts, the painting is the center piece used to recreate the three day battle. To begin, the room is dim like twilight and begins to lighten as night gives way to dawn. As full sunlight plays upon the scenes depicted in the painting, a narrator describes the action. Spotlights direct the audience's attention to various aspects and a sound tract, complete with the booms of cannon fire, the whistles of projectiles, the clash of steel, the rat-a-tat of musket fire, and the groans of stricken men, adds a measure of realism. It is quite powerful. After the cyclorama viewing, we were directed down to the museum entrance, which is an incredibly well done chronological examination of the slavery issue, the battle, the aftermath, and the gains both real and imagined. I felt less empty after today, but not less dismayed. Added to my painful consideration of the senselessness of war is another dose of the pestilential stench from our ability as humans to treat each other in inhumane ways. Nearly twenty percent of America's population at the time died in the Civil War (620,000). 185,000 were killed in battle; 569,000 were wounded, in every horrible way steel, shot, and blade can muster. 4,000,000 slaves were freed and despite the Slave amendments to our Constitution, the Civil Rights movements of the sixties, and current activism, we seem no closer to a space in our country where people can be judged, as Martin Luther King said, "...by the content of their character." Having said that, the Gettysburg Battlefield reminds me not just of pain and suffering, but also of hope and reconciliation. For that I must conclude ( As the Book of James instructs) that even in the face of most miserable circumstance that life is good, especially today.

Thin gruel for breakfast.