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Let it Begin Here, the 3 Strikes by Three'oEight - Part 1

Started by 308LIBERTY, February 11, 2014, 12:20:43 PM

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308LIBERTY

Because I would have difficulty simply memorizing passages of the story, I decided to write and tell the story in my own words, which I understand is encouraged to begin with. This is the beginning of my journey to IIT4 and my own telling of the story. I'm sure it will need to be condensed at some point, but I feel like this is something I need to get out of myself to capture the passion and spirit of one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard. Let it begin here:

Part 1, Introduction:

Imagine just for a moment, you are standing in the middle of a small park in the center of a quaint little town. Around this little park you see a meetinghouse, a tavern, a church and a few houses. One of those houses belongs to a very good friend you've known all your life. He lives there with his wife and 9 year old son who plays with your own children.

In fact you know everyone intimately in this little community. You've shared meals with them, gone to church together, planted crops, and built houses. This is a community in every sense of the word. The very ground you are standing on was purchased by your grandfather and other members of the community and donated to the town itself. It was by definition "common ground."

On any normal day there would be people having picnics, children playing games, dogs napping under shade trees and old men telling heroic stories of the recent French and Indian wars. But today there were no games, no picnics and no stories other than the one unfolding at this very moment. This is no ordinary day and the picture in front of you is one of blood, wounded and dying. The acrid smell of gun smoke hangs in the air, and bitter on your lips. You hear the screams of women and children and your good friend has just died on his very doorstep in the arms of his wailing wife.

And then the guilt starts to set in. You feel partially responsible for this horror, because your name is Captain John Parker, leader of the Lexington Minute Men and this is Lexington Green on April 19, 1775.

:Dramatic Pause:

Your words "Let it begin here!" echo in your mind. And indeed it has begun and will continue to unfold for years to come. The people dying at your feet are not commissioned  soldiers, they are simple farmers and tradesmen. These are your friends, neighbors and family lying on the broken ground. But, in front of you stand 750 redcoats and they have the audacity to cheer, Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! as if this massacre were a major victory. For now, there is absolutely nothing you can do though you swear, before this day is through, you will have vengeance.

You might ask what could possibly have lead to the brutal reality facing Capt. Parker this morning. Maybe you've heard of some of the challenges facing the colonists prior to April 19; the "Intolerable Acts," regular troops being sent to Boston and the entire colony effectively under martial law, the closure of the frontier to further expansion, taxes on popular goods and documents and redcoats parading around as a reminder that you are all subjects to a tyrannical King who has never even set foot in this land you've held for generations.

But John Parker didn't care about land on the frontier. He had land of his own in Lexington going back 3 generations. He had never paid a tax on tea because there was none to actually collect the tax. All the tax collectors had been shamed or run out of town until nobody would even take that job. They said the colonists could no longer have meetings without permission of the governor but nobody abided by it and it was nearly impossible to enforce. He'd heard about the so-called "Boston Massacre" but in reality it was little more than a street brawl and everyone knows those Boston "city-folk" were troublemakers to begin with. No, he did not care much about those things.

Yes, the colonists had put up with a lot, but it was a way of life and they actually had it better than most living back in London. In fact, back in Britain, only 1 in 10 people were land owners and most of them were nobles, while in the colonies, 9 of 10 owned and worked their own lands and had for generations. They actually lived in a state of wealth and freedom unprecedented in the known world. So what could possibly have provoked ordinary citizens to take up arms against the King and the mightiest army in the world?

Minor uprisings had been going on for years in the colonies. Indeed, the Spirit of the Revolution had been growing all along. But it was not until the redcoats came for the powder and ball, something needed to protect the colonists from the French and raiding indians, that a war would begin.

A man named Levi Preston summed up the reason thusly: "What we meant in going for those red-coats was this: We had always governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn't mean we should!" I'm sure Captain John Parker and the citizens of Lexington would agree.

DwightC
"We have always looked upon men as a set of beings naturally free - that a people can never be divested of those invaluable rights and liberties which are necessary to the happiness of individuals, to the well-beings of communities or to a well regulated state, but by their own negligence, imprudence, timidity or rashness. They are seldom lost, but when foolishly forfeited or tamely resigned." ~Jonas Clarke

Two Wolves

Well, I love your presentation. Copied it for my own education. Can't wait to read the rest of your story. Please do share.  O0  Regards, Two Wolves  :cool2:
A moral compass provides a basis for making decisions; an action is good or bad, right or wrong when viewed in the light of the individual's moral bearing. If no moral compass exists for the individual, then decisions and actions are made on the basis of purely subjective thoughts. This leads to "If it makes me happy, or makes me feel good, or if it's something I simply want to do, then it is right and good."

FreedomV

Illegitimi non carborundum