The movie about John Adams came out last year and being a lover of history, I had to see it. I’m glad I did, though I did close my eyes for the more squeamish parts. As the Fourth of July comes again, my thoughts turn to the men and women who made such an impact on making this country a survivable independent entity.
What a risk this group was taking. To defy the most powerful country in the world at the time, to go up against what was the best trained army, the best navy. To defy in such a public way the expectations and political structure of the British nation, was to invited disaster upon you. For some of these leaders, there were near escapes from being caught. A fragile structure of a country was forming. It must have been a frightening burden, realizing that the way they arrange governments, groups, and representatives was setting a precedent for generations to come.
They weren’t a perfect bunch, those crazy forefathers – they made mistakes, threw tantrums, and had grand dreams. But, they pulled together a fiber here and there, a tissue thin fabric which was layered over and over and over through years. It is to their credit that we have never experienced some street filled with tanks and young soldiers.
It’s not a perfect country, but they had a dream and the fortitude to carry it out.
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