Sunday, April 19, 2009

Today we Honor Our Ancestors

No, today is not the anniversary of the murder of innocent children at Waco, TX or the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and murder of more children in Oklahoma City. Today is the day in 1775 that was fired the shot heard 'round the world. Today is the day we made our move to become a nation (although we hardly knew it at the time).

Yes, 233 years ago today, brave men answered the call and responded to the church bells and drums. They marched in their militia units to the vicinity of Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts and along the road from there to Boston and gave their erstwhile ruler's armed forces a bloody nose.

I am thankful and proud to say that many of my ancestors and their brothers stood to arms to resist the tyrant then and in the years since. This post in no way can do them the honor they deserve. Only my own years of service might in some small way redeem my debt to them. But I hope by this post you might know their service and call to mind your own ancestors and their sacrifices... and maybe say a prayer of thanks.

Concord Hymn
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, --
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and Thee.