"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."
--- General Robert E. Lee
I live in Louisiana, but I am not from the South. I have made it my business to try to understand what it means, today, to come from this social, cultural and historical tradition.
Finding this quote from one of the iconic figures of the Confederacy, one of the great generals in US history, made me think twice about what it means to be an American, living in the South, during wartime in 2006.