You know what? I have to go to my heart and question why I vote or comment. I am seeing both sides now, and I am asking myself what is most important. I reflect on the quotation, "..to thine own self be true.." Would you rather have a few sincere people admiring your work, or a mass of obligated comments? If I stopped all of "the game" then I know that C.I. is right...but that IS how it played...I have just formed some friendships and I really don't want to hurt anyone. After all, isn't life a game? I hate it, but it's true. I just hate that commenting and thanking and trying to see everyones work sometimes becomes a chore, and not fun any more. It wasn't like that when I started here. What happened?

Well, I have decided. I am going to vote for what my heart tells me, but I am going to do it anonomously. When I think about it, letting someone know you vote for them is nice, but when you don't put the little V in there, by the same token people will realize that they HAVEN'T gotten a vote. That isn't right....unless you want to vote for everyone, to spare feelings. If you do that, what is the whole point anyway? If people want to continue to put that on my postings, I don't mind. It doesn't matter much. Comments are worth as much, and much more.

Well, I have decided. I am going to vote for what my heart tells me, but I am going to do it anonomously. When I think about it, letting someone know you vote for them is nice, but when you don't put the little V in there, by the same token people will realize that they HAVEN'T gotten a vote. That isn't right....unless you want to vote for everyone, to spare feelings. If you do that, what is the whole point anyway? If people want to continue to put that on my postings, I don't mind. It doesn't matter much. Comments are worth as much or more.

Well, I might as well put my two cents in. The problem I have is not with the hot 20, but with the people who message other artists and tell them that their work isn't worthy to be there. Who says? Different strokes for different folks. As for not letting people know that you vote for them, that may be a good idea. I vote all of the time, but only for images that touch me specially in some way. It may even be the verse that is written beneath the image, so who is to say, "you are not good enough to be there"? Art is more than, are you good, or does everyone like you...it is feeling. It is emotional, it is memory, it is making someone feel something or think something out of the ordinary. I vote when I am touched and it doesn't matter the form. I am seriously going to consider being anonymous about it, though.

Very astute correaltion of events with the history of the pool. I love learning new things, especially in conjunction with the scriptures. As for being in the South, I don't lump everyone together in the same ball of wax. That would be predjudice as well, wouldn't it? I will say that I am what I am, born a "Yankee" and I guess I will die a stranger in a strange land. Here in the general area there are several historical battle grounds. Tennesee has alot of history, and I think it is time I found out what it is. I find myself being ashamed for not finding out sometime earlier in the 20+ years I have lived here. Sounds as though I may have inadvertently carried a little of the dreaded disease with me from the North. Maybe I need to re-evaluate and see if I really WANT to be accepted. Seems this forum has touched on alot of things that have me thinking.

Being a Northerner who now is living in the South, I am well aware of the predjudices of a war that is still being fought. Unfortunately that is true in too many cases, in too many places. As for the Siloam Inscription, I am not aware of the circumstances surrounding that. It sounds as though a water system was being built, and the tunnel collapsed on the builders. I am not sure how that corresponds to war, but I found the site fascinating, and I have it bookmarked as well as several of the links. Thank you.

Everyone is entitled to their own views. It is true, war in its essence sucks. The causes are not often the wishes of the people. Some wars are necessary for the ultimate victory. As far as sending "Blacks" ahead? What country do YOU live in?? As I remember from my history lessons, one of the purposes in the Cival War was for the emancipation of the same. I think you are missing the entire point. War is, in fact, a manipulation of the government, or dictatorship. Something we ALL have to become either willing or unwilling participants in, in one way or another. It exists and neither you nor I will ever change it. The re-enactments are not necessarily to glorify it, but to remind us that the ends SOMETIMES justify the means. To remind us of the times, of the causes, of the end result. True, people lost lives...but what freedoms do we now enjoy because of that war? While I concede that it is not always the case, all is in control of a higher power. Viet Nam was not a war that in my opinion produced anything but a bunch of psychological and physiological malformations.(My brother being one of them.) I am pretty sure that there are no re-enactments of any of the battles that we were engaged in through that mistake. Did we learn anything from it? I don't know...Did we profit anything?...I dont know...I somehow doubt that anything good came from it. All wars are horrendous. All war is created by someone other than participants. All war produces death and disaster. I, too, have bitterness in my heart. I cry now over useless waste in Viet Nam. As for todays war? Since when is it NOT war when an enemy comes into your country to maim and kill civilians with a bloodthirsty agenda? It was war before it was declared. What we have to remember is that sometimes it is necessary. SOMETIMES it is necessary, regardless of what we want. I don't want my nephew to be in Iraq. Thousands of mothers don't want their sons and daughters in foreign lands, but if they don't fight, who will?...and how many more will die in our homeland? WE HAVE TO REMEMBER!....WE HAVE TO REMEMBER that SOMETIMES....SOMETIMES....it is worth it all. If I thought it was all in vain, I don't think I could bear it. As far as Jesus? Well, you really don't want to know. Like I said, we all are entitled to our personal opinions, and that's mine.

I think that was well put!

You are speaking of when Jesus was choosing the disciples who would follow him. One asked if he could bury his father first, and Jesus then replied, "follow me and let the dead bury the dead". Matther 8:22 He was referring to the spiritually dead burying the physical dead. There will always be war. One can only hope that we can somehow learn something from it...and while we are referring to scripture, the word also says that in the last days there will be wars and rumours of war. So it was, so it is, so it will be. Wars are orchestrated and we all know it. Order from Chaos.

...and now I know the rest of the story. Thank you so much for posting this. There are alot of re-enactments around this area, but I never paid much attention to them. I think that I might now.

#3, 3 Points #9, 2 Points #25, 1 Point