On a recent road trip down to Virginia, we were dazzled by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the rolling countryside. We are blessed to live in a nation with such magnificent scenery.

As we followed the interstate through the valleys and gentle hills, we couldn't help but notice the green signs indicating it was so far to this town or that road.

Shortly after stopping at a farm market for some fresh strawberries, I realized that more than 150 years ago, these towns, beautiful hills, and valleys were the scene of Civil War battles. I am speaking of names like the James River, Front Royal, Chambersburg, Harper’s Ferry, Gettysburg, and others.

As my bride drove the family SUV, I stared at the landscape picturing in my mind how the lush green farm fields would have been crisscrossed with muddy ruts made by masses of men wearing blue and gray. Then, the tidy farm homes and peaceful fields witnessed thousands of Americans battle to the death.

Our family legend says a great-great uncle stood with a Pennsylvania unit on a little hill called Little Round Top not far from Gettysburg where more than 7,000 died. Relatives say he didn’t say much about that event. He was taking part in a conflict started by the debate over slavery, a debate which was born with our nation. The founders and their successors tried and failed to reconcile our founding principle: “All men are created equal,” with the practice of buying and selling human beings.

Our founding fathers, many of whom owned slaves, argued and debated the question of what to do with the slaves who provided the engine for much of their agricultural production and their wealth. For many, it was not a philosophical question, it was a debate over the source of their livelihood and a fear of their captives. Others, many with strong religious beliefs, believed it was a sinful practice and must be abolished.

When the leaders, and our nation, could not reach a compromise, hotheads pulled the trigger starting a war that is estimated to have taken the lives of between 620,000 and 850,000 men on both sides.

Much of that conflict was fought along the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley bordering Interstate 81.

In that terrible conflict, as is the case in many other wars, the deaths of the young men and boys did not resolve the national debate.

Sadly, it is a debate that is with us today.

Nearly 100 years after the cannons cooled, the civil rights struggles of the 1960s prompted Congress to enact laws protecting civil rights and voting rights. Those laws didn’t solve the question either, and angry political rhetoric that followed led to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

Today, as we sit here on our beautiful peninsula, our nation is still engaged in bitter disputes that have their roots in the Civil War. We see street riots break out when lawfully elected leaders dismantle monuments to the leading figures of the Confederacy or when a minority group feels they are not treated with fairness and respect by those in power. Our newspapers, TV sets, radios and magical hand-held devices seem to amplify the bitter words that often pass for political discourse. Discourse filled with language that would have shocked our parents and grandparents.

The finely crafted arguments and civilized debate points of our founders have been replaced with talking points designed not to find common ground, but to demonize the other side.

Last week, some nut job, who seems to have believed some of these talking points, opened fire on a group of Republican congressmen. Once again, someone tried to win a political argument with violence.

Didn’t history teach us that political problems cannot be resolved this way?

Are the monuments in our village squares just lumps of concrete? Or, are they testaments to the fact that even the sacrifice of brave men in battle can not resolve all our differences? 

In a few days, as we celebrate our marine heritage with Windjammer Days, our clergy will gather to ask God’s blessings on the brave men who sail from our harbors seeking the bounty of the sea. As we bow our heads in concert, let’s pray that the Almighty spares our nation from the consequences of the escalating cycle of violent political rhetoric and its inevitable aftermath.

Didn’t the main character in the Good Book say something about loving one another?

Sounds like pretty good advice for us all.