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Another view of R.E. LeeTue, 02/21/2006 - 4:42pm
By: Letters to the ...
Mr. Scott Gilbert of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (letter to the editor, 01/24/2006) extolled the virtues of Robert E. Lee. Perhaps an opposing and less laudatory view of this iconic figure is worth contemplating. It is the nature of humankind to exalt when achieving lofty ideals and to wallow in the vileness of man’s inhumanity. The 20th century was graced with the likes of Stalin and Pope John Paul II; the likes of Hitler and Mother Theresa and others both famous and infamous. A continuum of human behavior, from the killing field of Cambodia to the rescue and feeding of the multitudes, can be attributed to a fundamental characteristic of our existence: freewill. What we do with our lives is not predetermined nor the result of divine intervention. We choose to do what we do whether for the good or the bad. Some ponder the efficacy of their actions before proceeding. They question the righteousness of desires and the paths sought and followed. They debate whether their actions will benefit others as well as their selves. Others are inclined to do what satisfies the self with little regard to those their actions may affect. Cain freely chose to slay Abel. His god did not compel him to do so. Hitler under his own volition freely chose to sign the death warrants of millions of innocent men, woman and children. His devil did not force his hand. Did these people contemplate the ramifications of their actions or did they act with contemptuous disregard for the welfare of others? Did Hitler always choose to do evil? Did Mother Theresa always do good? No one is perfectly righteous and no one is perfectly evil. But at critical junctures in human affairs the decision to act one way or another can have far reaching affects. It is at those fleeting, ephemeral moments when the exercise of freewill may alter the course of history. When Hitler’s henchmen suggested the final solution he could have dismissed their heinous ideas but he thought otherwise. When Stalin decided to enforce collectivization of the proletariat he consciously condemned tens of millions of people to starvation and death. Unfortunately, these infamous characters possessed freewill but lacked integrity. Integrity, simple stated, is the willingness to do what one thinks is right whether or not there is direct benefit for oneself or even when there are drawbacks for the one acting with integrity. Granted, Mr. Gilbert did indicate that Lee was not quite infallible when he said that Lee “was not perfect any more than Washington was, he came closer than most of us could ever hope to.” But perhaps Gilbert has propped Lee on a precarious pedestal of a revisionist’s tendentious tale. Lee may not be as odious and despicable as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot but due to his poor judgment, his void of integrity, he was indirectly responsible for untold death and destruction. The American Civil War was an unjust war that should never have been waged. The South should have freed the slaves and moved on. Lee may have been an intelligent fellow but he lacked integrity as revealed through some of his actions. Lee inherited 63 slaves when his father-in-law Custis died. The will stipulated that the slaves were to be manumitted within five years of Custis’s death. The slaves themselves believed that they would be released immediately. Yet, Lee retained them for those five years. During the intervening years three of them stole away but were captured during their quest for freedom. Eyewitness accounts indicate that Lee had the captured slaves whipped and brine applied to their wounds. What honor, what integrity is revealed in such behavior? The most egregious example of Lee’s lack of integrity was his decision to turn his back on his country when men of honorable stature were sorely needed. A man of his intelligence and ability should have had the wisdom to see the folly of the Southern cause to perpetuate slavery. His inability to the comprehend this consequential juncture in American history clearly precludes any sense of “greatness of character” that some may wish to bestow on Lee. If Lee was not inhibited by his unquestioned, morally corrupt loyalty to the Southern cause, the war may have been short-lived and perhaps never fought. The essences of humanity, the double-edged sword of free will, allowed Lee to lead many a man to his death. Lee’s failure as a military leader is overshadow by his failure to lead his Southern brethren down the righteous path toward freedom. What glory, what honor, what greatness is there to be found along the path he ultimately walked? r.j. desprez 
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