Editor's Note: The city of Crestview may have permanently closed discussion on the Confederate battle flag flying above the William "Bill" Lundy Memorial on East First Avenue.
A public meeting on the embattled flag was scheduled for Tuesday, but Lundy's immediate descendants proposed that the memorial be moved to private property. Few details are available on the proposal, which rendered the scheduled discussion moot.
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Dear editor,
I planned to speak about this issue at the (July 7 Crestview council) meeting. Preparing for this opportunity, I took the time to review the PBS show "Civil War" by Ken Burns.
My objective is to place the flag question within a context that does not require anyone to believe they have lost or won, but more importantly, have listened, in the words of President Lincoln, "to the better angels of their nature!"
Personally, I can remember the veterans of the Civil War attending events honoring those who had taken part in this great struggle.
Watching the "Civil War," I was reminded that no one today who took part, on either side, is alive. Therefore, I sought to find a section of Ken Burns' material where a single element would place the Confederate Battle Flag question in a perspective that would provide an opportunity for the "better angels of our nature" to witness that the citizens of Crestview are in fact looking to the future.
The example I planned to relate was the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1913. An element of this event was A re-enactment of "Pickett's Charge."
I have walked that battlefield and from the (perspective) of either side, I would not have wanted to be an active soldier in the summer of 1863.
As the re-enactment of "Pickett's Charge" began to take place in July 1913 — "a moan burst forth from the Union forces on the hill — they broke forth over the rock barricade and rushed down the hill to embrace the Confederate forces, not in combat, but in arms of brotherly love."
If those who had actually fought the Civil War were willing to set aside all for the sake of "brotherly love," are we not called to follow their example?
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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: LETTER: A question about the Confederate battle flag