Lessons from the 20th Maine

It's amazing what a hard day's work and a campfire can do to someone.  I find it one of the most relaxing things one can do...and today, I did just that.  As I sat by the fire, I thought about my favorite civil war character, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.  He was from Maine, a teacher, who volunteered during the civil war and was ultimately made a colonel in the Union Army.  His regiment was the 20th Maine and his civil war exploits are well known to most history geeks.  It was his bayonet charge during the Battle of Gettysburg that was instrumental in a northern victory.  As much as I love talking about Chamberlain, or watching the movie Gettysburg, today isn't about the heroism of war.

Chamberlain was a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine.  He taught rhetoric and other fancy stuff, but he also tried to impart on his students a better form of character.  In a biography I read about him, many years ago, the author described a moment from early in Joshua's childhood. His father charged him with cutting wood for the upcoming winter.  Chamberlain began working when his grandfather came to help.  Soon, other members of the family were helping too.  Chamberlain was surprised, but his grandfather explained that many hands make light work.  If you pitch in and lend a hand, then the job becomes less difficult.

Today, I experienced that the way that Chamberlain had back in the early 1800s.  I arrived in Lyman, Maine around 8am.  I was not too happy to give my weekend to manual labor, but I had been asked by my parents to help with fixing the dirt road to our house on Wadleigh Pond.  The job was difficult.  Two truckloads of dirt and gravel were dropped off and we began loading our trucks.  This is when the Chamberlain moment hit me.  Folks from all up and down the road emerged to lend a helping hand.  People I've waved to for years were working next to me as we repaired our little dirt road.  Our tough job was made much easier because our neighbors all pitched in.  It was really cool and it is something we don't find often enough down by Boston.

It took us four hours to fix about a mile and a half of road.  I'm sore.  My shoulder is aching.  I'll probably need some type of surgery, lol, but it's done.  

The road is fixed.

And I met my neighbors up north.

It was all worth it.

Mr. Lavoie, currently in Lyman, Maine