For some reason I don't have the option to create a new topic on the main forum so I'll ask this here. I sent this question to Appleseed a couple of weeks ago. It was passed around to several people who work on the Appleseed project. They finally replied and said no one knew the answer. Here it is:
QuoteI am just learning about Appleseed and I have a pretty basic question. Why is it called the Revolutionary War Veterans' Association?
Most veteran associations are comprised of veterans from the conflict they represent. So members of a Vietnam Veterans' Associations would be veterans of the Vietnam War.
Since there are no living veterans of the Revolutionary War, why was this name chosen? It sounds like an association made up of direct descendents of Revolutionary War veterans--similar to the Daughters of the American Revolution. What meaning is the name supposed to imply?
Thanks
Perhaps I shouldn't reply, since I don't have an "official" answer to offer you. But my supposition has always been this: it's a kind of tongue in cheek way of both giving honor to the men who fought for our liberty, and of signifying our interest in passing along their story.
Since the war was so long ago, there's no chance that anyone will get confused, and think we're actually Revolutionary War vets. So there's no worry about "stolen valor" or anything like that. I just think it's kind of a funny way of hinting at who we are and what we do. I hope that's not too far off the real truth of the matter. I'd hate to be spreading errors.
Thanks. I like your Chesterton quotes and avatar. :-)
Since there are people who chose that name still involved. I would think that they would have the answer.
That's why I sent the question to the address provided on the RWVA Web site (rwvainfo@gmail.com). They forwarded the e-mail to at least three people in the organization and finally decided no one knew the answer.
Perhaps it's because we all should still be fighting for the Revolution to make sure that we don't lose the liberty that was won at such a cost. If we continue to fight the "soft war" using the freedoms and tools that the founding generation didn't have then we are veterans of the Revolution, though not in the traditional sense.
I did have a cashier at a store read my shirt one time:
"Revolutionary War Veterans Association?"
"Yes, I'm remarkably well-preserved."
C ya,
brian
That's one of the reasons I asked the question. Is it some veiled reference to members as future "revolutionary war veterans"?
No it isn't veiled anything.
May I ask, who were the three people that were e-mailed?
HH
Quote from: auctoris on January 13, 2015, 10:06:16 PM
That's one of the reasons I asked the question. Is it some veiled reference to members as future "revolutionary war veterans"?
If you're taking brianheeter's comment as leaning that way, I think you've misunderstood him. His point is that the revolution is (metaphorically speaking) ongoing,
not that we're somehow looking forward to some new war. Appleseed (or RWVA) is definitively and explicitly
not a revolutionary organization, and we have no hidden agenda. What you hear and see at an event really is what we're about.
Glad you're a Chesterton fan. He and St. Thomas Aquinas are my heroes.
Aquinas and Augustine are tied for me. :-)
I'm kind of surprised that this question didn't get immediately answered.
I got asked this question -- by a television crew (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=12044), camera and everything -- when I was a strapping IIT 2.
My answer was simple: The Revolution is a concept that was supposed to never die. But it's not about fighting. It's the revolutionary idea that a free people can and should govern themselves.
We are "Veterans" of the war in the sense that the war is thankfully long over, and will never return. We do and always should remember it, but we are its survivors. We are the caretakers of the Revolution.
As John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson:
QuoteAs to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760-1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.
They liked my answer. They didn't even ask me for a second take.
I will submit that this is an ideal that all Americans, indeed all free peoples everywhere, should aspire to.
I was one of the people emailed. Quite frankly after spending 45 minutes searching for the answer I gave up. Too much other stuff to work on.
One of the new volunteers spent much more time than that and finally asked me.
I unofficially declare this to be the final answer... unless it isn't:Quote from: Rocket Man on January 14, 2015, 03:10:57 AM
I'm kind of surprised that this question didn't get immediately answered.
I got asked this question -- by a television crew (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=12044), camera and everything -- when I was a strapping IIT 2.
My answer was simple: The Revolution is a concept that was supposed to never die. But it's not about fighting. It's the revolutionary idea that a free people can and should govern themselves.
We are "Veterans" of the war in the sense that the war is thankfully long over, and will never return. We do and always should remember it, but we are its survivors. We are the caretakers of the Revolution.
As John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson:
QuoteAs to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760-1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.
They liked my answer. They didn't even ask me for a second take.
I will submit that this is an ideal that all Americans, indeed all free peoples everywhere, should aspire to.
~ so says Vinnie.
Added explanation to website:
https://appleseedinfo.org/rwva.html
Linked to on home page - just to the right of the video on home page.
https://appleseedinfo.org/
Thank you, Scuzzy. It's a meaningful improvement to the website.
A much needed update to the website. Thanks!