Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
|
Thanks for chiming in. You men are gents. Religion is such a delicate subject - public discussion is now all but taboo - that I half feared my comments would unleash a torrent of unkind comments. I won't go any further with it, other than to say it's such a central part of who we are that avoiding the topic completely seems contrived. Now, to move on. Back in college, I lived on Third Floor, Myers Hall, which was populated by the best men ever. Just good guys you'd all like: Vendo, Blue Toe, Moon Pie, Hoss Fly, and many others just as memorable. Late one night, we engaged in one of those group "meet in the hallway, order pizza, and sit around and shoot the breeze" discussions that were so memorable. "The Cause" (that was his nickname, because he was just as cool as The Fonze) brought up the topic of movies that, as he put it, "could bring a tear to the eye." For this distinction, he nominated Shenandoah - specifically, the closing scene in which the simple country family - its ranks sadly depleted by those killed during the war - gathers in its little country church. Suddenly, the door opens and the youngest boy, who they thought had died in the war, hobbles in on a crutch. The amazed congregation breaks into "The Doxology." The Cause was right - it was hard for even the toughest of college men to watch that without "a tear in the eye." There are two other movies that I have a tough time with for similar, thought not exactly the same, reasons. First, there's the scene in Gone With the Wind in which Scarlett, horrified by the mayhem that has engulfed Atlanta, leaves the hospital and crosses the train tracks...and wades through the yard that is utterly filled with wounded and dying men on stretchers. And the camera pulls back, and she gets smaller and smaller, engulfed in a the sea of casualties...and then the camera pulls back far enough for the flagpole to come into view...bearing the tattered Confederate flag. That scene depicts the horror and futility of the war that words could not express. Similarly, in the modern movie Gettysburg, I cannot bring myself to watch Pickett's Charge. Seriously. When me and my boys watch that movie on occassion, I just leave the room for the penultimate part of the movie. Too painful. All those men ordered to their deaths for a cause that was futile. What was it that William Faulkner said about "for every teenage southern boy there comes a time when it is two o'clock on July 3, 1863..." (I won't say anything further - we had a lengthy forum discussion of this les than a year ago, I believe). Thanks again, gents. I enjoy the opinions and insights and experiences that come from such a diverse and thoughtful group of men. I think nearly all of you guys are Honorary Southerners. :)
< Message edited by Canoerebel -- 8/27/2013 1:43:50 PM >
|