ORRIN MORRIS: Let us all strive to be peacemakers

The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-10, address the blessings promised to believers who allow God’s love to be expressed throughout their spiritual journey. They begin with the poor in spirit, then those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The journey proceeds with the merciful and the pure in heart. The final stage in the journey toward spiritual maturity is the peacemaker. The current national and international is in desperate need of peacemakers.

I moved from Nebraska to Virginia while I was in the eighth grade. I had learned little about the “Civil War” because it was a sad event that happened “back East, before we became a state (1867).” The move to Virginia made a big impact on my knowledge. Everyone except me knew Confederate history because about 60% of the battles were waged on Virginia soil. My classmates were familiar with the details of Alexandria, Bull Run, Manassas, Fredricksburg, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Hopewell, Petersburg, and so on to the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. Even still, it remains a sad event to me because more Americans died during the War Between the States than the total Americans that died fighting in WW I, WW II, Korea and Vietnam combined (625,000 vs 616,640).