hissy fit

ok, if none of you want to be in the book club that is fine, it was a good try. therefore, if david does not want to pick a book then it is up to free game. anyone who would like to pick the book let me know in the next week. if no one picks a book then i will pick the book and be in the book club by myself, i like myself and therefore have no problem with this. Therefore, if no one picks a book in the next week then the book is 'moneyball'. its about baseball, i've already started it and its very interesting, it does have some f-words in it, so be aware of that. anyway, i want everyone in the book club but if no one else has time then it will be me and this computer. i hope everyone decides to have time. if you did read the previous book then PLEASE comment. otherwise i will assume it was me and washington trudging it out. Thanks. and yes this is a hissy fit i apoligize i just really wanted this book club to work.

David's Turn

Ok david- you're turn to pick a book. And we will have a month from the day he posts to read it- unless he picks something super long at which point he will have to decide how long we have. thamks

1776

Well, I'm a little late. Sorry my friends. I loved this book. I hope you all did too. The thing I found the most amazing was really what the author at the end re-emphasized- the war was won by the personalities involved. Washington was an amazing man but really what was amazing about him was his steadfast, stalwart character. He was many great things but this is what made him extraordinary. Its really a miracle that we even ended up winning this war with britian- wow. God's hand was evident in some crucial moments but what struck me most was when it was absent. I had always, ignorantly, thought that because it was God's will to have the US established the revolutionary war was a sweeping success- not so. If the British had pushed forward one turn or not retreated another time everything would have been lost. I think this is a good lesson we can learn. Even when we are righteous and are on the right path all the trees and brambles will not be swept aside for us. We have to figure it out, make mistakes, and fall- but all the while act as washington did- stead. Also, it makes me think that we need to not focus so much on the things that are wrong in our lives. I mean for most of 1776 the continential army was a complete failure- but in the end we dont remember new york or kings bridge. we remember boston and trenton and princeton. If we are finding lessons from history i think this is a big one- focus on the triumphs of our lives. Because there will always be a new york, we will always have the king's bridge-- but what defines us is what we do later, its how we make trenton happen.
I also found washington fasinating as a character. This war was won by men who were lacking. Washington didn't get a very high formal education and his father had died when he was young- the men he picked around him that helped him to successed had similar facts about their lives. Except for Lee. And in the end it was better for Lee to be captured. These men felt unequal to the task put before them in many ways but they didn't sherk from their duty, instead they sacrificed humbly. Finding more application for our lives here: We are all lacking in some way, and we are all unequal to the tasks that God would give us- but we can still accomplish those tasks. It really is amazing that Knox and Greene made such a HUGE difference. what heros we have in our past.
War really is a terrible thing. when I read the history I used to not think about the collatoral damage involved- I thought more like Risk--little pawns dying. I didn't think about the pain, the mothers, the children, the young boys fighting and dying. I think its hard for us to understand war in our comfy homes, and our warm beds. How terrifying it must be to be a soldier. I think we need to be more cautious, more careful in our warring. The horrible thing is that the pain doesn't end when the smoke of the battle clears- homes are destroyed, women were ravaged, families are destroyed--because we are not the soldiers going out to battle and we do not personally have soldiers in our family going out to battle i think its easy to intellectually talk about war and forget the real life implications. We-as a country- need to be more aware, we need to really think before we just blow things up.
I also thought that the author did a good job expressing the British attitude. I found myself understanding where britian was coming from. Instead of seeing a villian i felt i understood their motivations- i really understood where the loyalist where coming from. It helped me to see that the revolutionaries were very visionary, that they were radical. I really liked that kind of balanced approach.
Anyway, there are a few of my thoughts about this book. I really thought it was amazing. reading history brings so many lessons and really makes me proud- it makes me more patriotic. The admiration we have for washington is not misplaced. What a great commander- and what amazing men he had supporting him.