{"id":546,"date":"2010-05-28T06:14:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-28T06:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/05\/a-brief-meditation-on-the-massachusetts-54th\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:05:22","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:05:22","slug":"a-brief-meditation-on-the-massachusetts-54th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/05\/a-brief-meditation-on-the-massachusetts-54th.html","title":{"rendered":"A Brief Meditation on the Massachusetts 54th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On this day in 1863 the Massachusetts 54th<\/a> marched out of Boston.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nI think a great deal about that march and what followed.<\/p>\nI think about Shaw, that child of Unitarian faith, and where that faith led him.<\/p>\nBut more, I think about the 54th.<\/p>\nThe truth is that there was a single State\u2019s right the South was looking to defend.<\/p>\nAnd there were people who were willing to fight and die that something truly evil would be eradicated from the nation\u2019s soul.<\/p>\nThere was a cancer that needed cutting out. <\/p>\nAnd I find it is so terribly important that people who had been enslaved could take up the arms that would free them, could have their own part in this ending of something so terrible, so wrong, so soul killing.<\/p>\nIt was so important that at least one hand holding the scalpel would be black.<\/p>\nAnd more. This event holds up so much that is complex and difficult and wrong and right in our human lives.<\/p>\nHow religion would be invoked by those who would enslave,<\/p>\nAnd the prayers of those who would be free.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Glory - I Love The 54th\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ghOECZiycEk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nAnd more, complex and messy, so much more than messy, so filled with wrong and with right. <\/p>\nIn this story of the Massachusetts 54th, whatever the prayers they actually prayed to whatever gods, they died.<\/p>\nUgly.<\/p>\nViolent death.<\/p>\nTrying to take a fort that may not have needed taking.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZ6pJ0HlXtA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\nBut, something more happened in those hellish moments\u2026 <\/p>\nMy faith tells me war is wrong.<\/p>\nMy faith says killing is wrong.<\/p>\nMy observation is that the reality of multiple causality and the cascade of unintended consequences means nothing is any pure single thing, and without doubt every violent action leaves a cascade of hurt behind.<\/p>\nThe tears that follow war fill oceans. <\/p>\nAnd to take up arms, to be caught up in the violence and blood and destruction is to be cast into hell.<\/p>\nNo doubt. <\/p>\nAnd this is the hard part, the really hard part.<\/p>\nSometimes, perhaps, possibly, I fear, I believe; that is exactly what we have to do.<\/p>\nThe consequences of those centuries of slavery are still with us. Prejudice and hatred continue to poison people\u2019s hearts. Today in this country there are people whose lives are a form of slavery.<\/p>\nAnd people spit on the memory of the peculiar institution and wonder how people could possibly have thought it anything but sin.<\/p>\nAnd know bones and marrow nothing like that should be allowed to exist.<\/p>\nSo hard.<\/p>\nSo important.<\/p>\nWhatever gods there may be, may they bless Robert Gould Shaw.<\/p>\nWhatever gods there may be, may they bless the Massachusetts 54th.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-1658802624231958071?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this day in 1863 the Massachusetts 54th marched out of Boston. I think a great deal about that march and what followed. I think about Shaw, that child of Unitarian faith, and where that faith led him. But more, I think about the 54th. The truth is that there was a single State\u2019s right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>A Brief Meditation on the Massachusetts 54th<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this day in 1863 the Massachusetts 54th marched out of Boston.I think a great deal about that march and what followed.I think about Shaw, that child of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/05\/a-brief-meditation-on-the-massachusetts-54th.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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