Relate an experience in your life when you dreaded something bad happening tomorrow. How did the upcoming event turn out for you?
“We are through for the night, but tomorrow we fight the battle that will decide the fate of the Republic.” (General Joseph Hooker,, Antietam Battlefield)
As Ruth and I approached Antietam National Battlefield during our road trip stay in Western Maryland’s Civil War region, I felt an eerie uneasiness about spending part of my sightseeing day at this place defined by death. For if you’ve followed this road trip, you know I’ve increasingly gravitated toward places that restore me—quiet landscapes, reflective parks, anywhere that lets me breathe a little easier. But Antietam as I recall from my American History teaching days certainly didn’t promise that! How about you? Have you ever gone somewhere like this knowing it might leave you emotionally heavier than when you arrived?
But what interested me most was how serene Antietam looked at first glance as I entered these hallowed grounds. Open farmland. Gentle breezes. Birds going about their day as if nothing extraordinarily violent had ever happened here.Yet more than 23,000 Americans became casualties on this ground in a single day there! So during my audio car tour of ten sites on this tragic battlefield, I found that this tragic military outcome at Antietam confirmed a relevant history lesson. For what if such drastic human costs of war similarly happened today? Obviously then, I would support those leaders in my country who do the hard work to find peaceful diplomatic solutions rather than fighting ego filled wars. What’s your thought on this matter?
On a personal level I’ve had similar conflict resolution solutions in mind in the last six months in dealing with my mother’s passing and some personal medical crises as well. Yet amid such turmoil, I’ve consistently conveyed the message in my travel blog entries this spring that finding calmness works best to deal with on the road anxiety rather than ramping up my behavior with confrontation filled outbursts.
Snippets of a Traveling Mind 
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