ONE decision...(Part 3)

...You're thinking, "great story, but you're telling me I can change the world? Gimme a break!" You're about to say (if you haven't already) "c'mon! Even Joshua Chamberlain only changed one small part of one battle!"

Oh, really?

Chew on this: it's well known that, up until Gettysburg, the Union was pretty well getting handed its head. They'd lost Fort Sumter, gotten their asses kicked TWICE at Manassas (or Bull Run, if you prefer), lost decisively in the Battles of the Seven Days near Richmond, were defeated soundly at Chancellorsville, and CRUSHED at Fredricksburg.
Had the South won Gettysburg, Historians are almost unanimous that the war would have been over by September 1st. The CSA (Confederate States of America) was ONE VICTORY away from winning the Civil War - but they didn't win.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action at Little Round Top. His commanding officers held that the actions of this one man saved the entire 80,000-man Union Army from certain destruction - this one man turned the tide of the entire battle.

By turning the tide of the Battle of Gettysburg, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain turned the tide of the ENTIRE CIVIL WAR.

Do you realize what that means?

If the South wins, there is no USA as we know it. There are two - perhaps three nations in its place. There is no country big enough and strong enough to help feed the world; there is no superpower to defend weaker societies against those who would restrict their freedom. All this DIDN'T happen because one. Ordinary. Individual. Made a decision to move forward.
When Hitler laid Europe under a boot of iron, when Japan systematically conquered the Pacific islands, when Eastern Europe lay behind the Iron Curtain, when Saddam Hussein rolled his troops into Kuwait, there was a UNITED States of America to stand in the way - because of one man with his back to the wall. A man who was in fear for his life. A man whose only option seemed to be retreat.
The world as it exists today is, in large part, is the result of that decision to charge - one decision made by a schoolteacher on a hot, humid July day almost a century and a half ago! Don't you DARE think you can't change things!

ONE decision, made by YOU, can change the world! With this power at our command, WHAT do we have to fear?

(to be Continued...)