Lexington & Concord, MA

7:01 PM

Another busy day in the life. It started off with waking up from a sound sleep in a bed. The clock in the room I was in was an hour slow. I didn’t realize it until this morning. I woke up at what is late for me, 8 AM. It turned out it was 9:15. It felt good to sleep and have no plan. I tied up a few loose ends by calling my car loan company, their address was wrong, how about that? And then Compaq wanted their faulty hard drive back. I explained, from my bed (as I made the car call from as well), that I had old info still on there and I wanted to keep it. After berating the customer service rep for a while, I asked for the manager. He came on. I could not win. After battling for a while, company policy won out. He’s sending me an addressed box tomorrow.

Aunt Mary had to work today. It was a day for Uncle Bill and I to spend seeing the sites. I’m not sure how psyched he was to be playing tour guide, but he did it. We started off with lunch at McDonald’s. A salad, a double cheeseburger, and a small fry later and we were off. We headed to Lexington, MA to the site where the Revolutionary War started. Uncle Bill found it, let me out of the car armed with my camera, and I found the spot. I took some shots. More importantly I took some time. This is the spot where the British fired the first shots on our militia. It was a small battle as we were outmatched 70 to 700 and we retreated. But a few of our militia were killed there and it fired us up.

From there we headed to the Minute Man State Park. We watched a movie about the start of the Revolution and the area that took part. We were in it. I stood on the sites where our country formed its new identity. After the video we took a break from the War and went back to Walden. Timing was on my side as the original copy of Walden was at the Thoreau Institute had secured the original for the 150th anniversary. It came all the way from California, at the request of Don Henley and the Executive Director. I met the curator who has written an updated Walden. We talked for a while about his job and path. It was great to see.

We then headed to see more of the sites. I saw the house where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women. We then headed to the North Bridge. This is the site in Concord where the first British soldier fell. They sent 7 battalions to the North Bridge and one to the south. Our soldiers waited as the town began to burn. One soldier whose name I cannot recall said to the superior officers, “Are you going to let our town burn?” They conferred and charged. We drove them back. From there our militias connected and our 4,000 turned back their 1,700 all the way to Boston. This was the start of the Revolutionary War and our independence.

I don’t know a thing about war, but I think I know about people. To win a war, it helps to have the motivation. In the Revolutionary War we told the British to shove their taxes. They came over to collect. Who had more motivation? Our militia who was fighting for their new land which they traveled so far for? Or the British, who came over, got off the boat, marched to defend a land they would never live on and never see the taxes from? We had the edge. Who has the motivation edge in Iraq? We will prevail over there, but it seems so foolish to me that we totally planned best case scenario instead of worst case. I am no general or no Ashcroft, but to think they would bow down and kiss our feet was insane. We now must do what it takes to win. If not, the consequences will not be good for us. Very complicated. But motivation plays a major role in the human game.

Enough of my talk. We had a good meal for dinner with farm raised veggies. I had two ears of corn on the cob. They left for a church meeting. I sit and type with a drink UB made me. I’m about to hit the laundry and get ready for Boston tomorrow. I can’t wait to see the sight of the Tea Party and Paul Revere’s ride. Great stuff.