After 22 years in the U.S. Army, traveling to every continent but Antarctica, retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters has become somewhat of an expert on military affairs and a well-known author. He traveled to Tamaqua on Monday to speak to a crowd of about 40 about the Civil War as part of the Tamaqua Remembers monthlong observance of the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day.

If his audience was expecting facts and figures, along with a dry, dusty retelling of old war stories, they were in for a surprise.

Peters spoke of the war that “tore this country apart, resulting in the deaths of 70,400 people,” but his main focus was on how the country then came together and re-formed.

“Some pundits say our country has never been as divided as it is today. They are wrong. Our country has a lot of history of divisions, starting with our own Revolution; to the 1800 presidential election of Jefferson versus Adams, they never spoke highly of each other; to the Civil War; to today and everything in between. Conflicts are not the only revolutions our country has been through. Look at the Industrial Revolution, the advent of indoor plumbing and the revolutionary changes to health care,” Peters said.

The difference between many of those revolutions and today’s ugly political atmosphere, he said, is, “The biggest change in the U.S. today is that our country has become an ungrateful nation. People forget the hardships from just one generation ago. Now, we have cars, smartphones, big-screen TVs and computers while crying poverty. If you had to choose, which would you give up — internet access or indoor plumbing?”

He continued weaving the past and present together, making comparisons to the attitudes of the generations and the hardships each faced.

“The aristocracy of the South in the 1860s was in direct conflict with the democracy growing in the north. Today, we are still arguing states’ rights issues.

“But there’s one thing you should keep in mind. America is a country where you can make a mistake, fall down and get back up. Our country is not a finished product. We take wrong turns, fix them and move on,” he said.

“If you want change, start by changing yourself. Listen to the other guy’s side. Be a decent, good person. Do a good deed. This country will be just fine. God willing, and the Little Schuylkill don’t rise, our country will be here long after we are gone.”

And through it all, he says he discovered something important. “You can take the Skook out of the Schuylkill, but you can never take the Schuylkill out of the Skook, and that can be a very good thing.”