pa·tri·ot
/ˈpātrēət/
Noun
a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.
Part 1 ~ Patriots of the past
Can pride & patriots ~vs~ anarchists and terrorists be one and the same?
With that being questioned, please read on,
War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings, which thinks that nothing is worth fighting for, is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the extortions of better men than himself.
~ Army leadership pamphlet late 1970’s
Patriots of yesterday and today, my oh my, how they have changed. As you read, please keep in mind the freedoms, thoughts, and innovations you enjoy today so freely. Please remember the cost that was paid for it all. Our ancestors delivered it through their own blood, sweat, and tears. Generations of families suffered alike in the history of our great nation.
American families not only suffered and sacrificed the same as those who stormed onto the battlefields, but many were separated, starved, tortured, and killed during the various wars. As in Guvonor Morris’s story, he found his own mother and brother were loyalists. They were housing the British army during the battles. Morris, who wrote the famous words “WE THE PEOPLE,” was
a traitor to the crown but a hero and Patriot to his people.
I would like you to try to look back and imagine how our forefathers gathered in secret rooms, met in the back corners of town taverns, and wrote under code names. Then, take a look at what it took 244 years ago to unite thirteen colonies consisting of 2.5 million people. Who were these men who would give their lives for the freedoms of their people, families, and neighbors? Were they patriots? Were they terrorists, anarchists or traitors? Were they heroes or perhaps maybe all of the above? I guess it just depends on whose point of view you’re looking through.
They rode horseback for days to deliver secret messages and infiltrated enemy lines to provide the most urgent reports to warn militias to prepare. They knew their sentence was death if caught by the British. Yet, they attempted to unite the thirteen colonies to fight for independence no matter the price. We can’t imagine how treacherous it must have been for them to plan, connect and organize our people back in those days, back in the days of candle lights, ink wells, wax seals, and probably the best brew made by Samuel Adams himself. Life was not easy for them, but the urgency of independence outweighed the endless days it took to relay messages and gather supplies. Sleeping in fields of snow, riding through rain and harsh weather, praying not to be found for it would be certain death. These dedicated messengers came long before your post office and mail carriers. In fact, many only know of Paul Revere, but to keep it true to our readers, five leading riders played a massive part in the revolution. Four men and one woman. I said that correctly a woman, so all you men who think America was only founded and saved by masculinity, I hate to burst your bubble.
Paul Revere signed up with The Sons of liberty after losing his father’s silversmiths business to the Stamp Act of 1765. The Sons of Liberty was a group of men initially responsible for organizing the early revolution effort. John Hancock and Samuel Adams were also with the Sons of Liberty. But, contrary to popular belief, Paul Revere never rode through the street yelling, “The British are coming.”
William Dawes,A member of the Boston Militia, rode to warn the colonial Minutemen of the British movement.
Samuel Prescott, who was a native of Massachusetts, met Paul Rivera and William Dawes to be their guide. Prescott, a native, knew the area and could maneuver it in the dark without being detected by the British. Prescott would be the only one of the three men to get the message delivered to the colonies that the British were on the move.
Israel Bissell, To this day, we still do not know if this was his real name. Not known to many like his counterparts Paul River and Prescott. Bissell had the longest ride of the five messengers. His journey was not just an overnight horse ride. According to the ledgers he kept, it was four days and six hours. Israel Bissell yelled as he rode through the towns, not Paul Rivera as some folk stories may have you believe.
Sybil Ludington, The 16-year-old daughter of a colonel, was also one of the famous riders to head out and warn of the British coming to the colonies. Later commended by George Washington himself, she rode 40 miles to warn the men of Connecticut of the oncoming invasion but arrived too late and witnessed the town burning to the ground by British soldiers.
Now, just imagine for one second this scenario,
Your body is rocking back and forth, swaying with each leap. You hear the leather squeak in the saddle, rubbing together as you swing on its cusp with every stride from your horse’s gallop. The crisp night air fills your nostrils as you listen to the not-so-quiet sounds of the night. You can see your horse’s breath as it runs swiftly through the night. From within the dark, calls from the lurking beast sing to your ears, and howls of the wolves come from the mountain tops, but that is not your greatest fear at the moment. For if the British find you, they would surely make you suffer, an example indeed to be made out of anyone involved in betraying the crown. So you tread ever so lightly but swiftly, praying the moon doesn’t shine its beams on you. You must meet your counterparts and make it safely to save your people. You can see the glow of a burning town in the far distance. You know you have arrived too late. You pray for the villagers and yourself hoping no one sees you fleeing. You feel your heart beating and pounding as you run for your life, knowing the British have already made landfall. The sorrows of many dead colonists weigh on your heart heavily.
This was just a tiny moment in hours of terror for one sixteen-year-old girl named Sybil, who rode through the dark alone at a time of war to save her people. Most sixteen-year-old girls in America today can’t take their eyes off themselves long enough to learn how to ride a horse, let alone navigate through woods and ride 40 miles through the wilderness with wild animals and soldiers.
That is a TRUE LOYALIST TO HER PEOPLE AND THE CAUSE!
Talk about being an American Idol or Pride? So, where is Sybil’s story in history books? Where is the PRIDE from our feminists at what a sixteen-year-old girl did in the seventeenth century? I won’t hold my breath on the feminist chalking that one up as one for the team.
General George Washington was an astounding and distinguished General in The British Army. Entering at age seventeen and rising in the ranks fast, he was the British Colonel during the French and Indian war. Appalled by politicians’ failure to support the war, he resigned and returned to Mount Vernon in 1758. By the year 1776, Washington had built a rebellion, and on Christmas Morning in 1776, George Washington crossed a frozen Delaware river with artillery and 2400 soldiers (NOT SIGNS). They didn’t protest the British for freedom! They had many trials and tribulations with these plans, including spies and deserters who warned the British of an oncoming attack. A terrible storm made landfall, and there was snow, sleek, and a frozen river to cross. Against all odds, Washington’s plans worked.
That would be considered anarchy and terrorism by today’s standards and was back then as well.
While the patriots of yesterday, our founding fathers, wore white wigs, rouge, and stockings, they were far from your man buns, transgenders, or crossdressers of today, nor were they in the business of playing and reading with children while in dresses. Little known fact here for some but the wigs were actually started by King Louis XIII because he was balding. It became a fashion statement in the 1500s. One of the longest-running fashions in history, wigs were worn until the late 1800s. They were mainly used to cover up the imperfections of balding in older men.
The Patriots of yesterday were true patriots, and some might say early terrorists or even traitors to the crown, but they were men and women willing to fight and die for their newfound nation, their liberties, and their freedoms. They were ready to die on their feet rather than live any longer on their knees as subjects. They refused to be taxed to death by a tyrannical ruler to pay for his wars! Our founding fathers betrayed the crown for a lot less than what our own government is doing to us today.
Let’s rewind the clock even more:
Socrates of Athens
We had Greece, Rome, and the Persians wars before America, Spain and the French were spoken of. There we will find some of our roots that even the founding fathers couldn’t resist. The birth of our republic starts here in the time of Socrates, Plato, and Curcio. Socrates, basically the Godfather of our founders, would later give his life to plant a seed of question in the minds of his people. He believed in a republic where people governed themselves. His counterparts feared his influence and intellect. His friends tried to get him to flee Athens; however, Socrates, being in the Greek infantry and having seen the many battles of Greece, was a proud man, and rather than live his life in exile, he chose to die with dignity and honor before his people. Socrates believed in educating his people, not indoctrinating them.
He was full of PRIDE and was a true patriot of Greece.
Last but not least, he is one of my favorite patriots of all time; although he is not recognized as a patriot, he most definitely was.
He metamorphosized in his lifetime a great deal, from a patriot of the nation of Egypt to a patriot of his people. Born a Hebrew, he was made into a prince but later in life became the leader of God’s people reluctantly at first.
Not a huge fan of his own people, he was chosen to deliver their freedom from slavery after they exiled him from Egypt.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the one and only Moses.
Moses
The original Patriot Prince of Egypt, he was loyal to Egypt until he discovered the truth. Many say it was in his 25th year he discovered the cruelty his people suffered under the Pharaoh King Ramses II. Moses was a Hebrew prophet, a leader, a teacher, and most importantly, a true believer in God. Upon killing an Egyptian he sees beating a Hebrew slave, Moses flees Egypt to Midian, only to return decades later at the order of God himself and lead his people free from slavery. A prince of Egypt crowned with gold and silver became a follower of God and led his people to freedom. He conquered Pride, power, and prejudice to become a holy, humble, and blessed Patriot of his people and his lands. His faith and obedience to God freed his people. It was not all primrose and bread loaves, though. His people suffered a great deal, as did Moses himself.
Upon his return to Egypt, Moses knew his people would not listen to him. His faith, knowing that God would provide for and protect him, still could not have shaken his fear for his people from Moses’s thoughts. I am sure of that. Somehow Moses united over One million Israelites and convinced them to leave in the mass EXODUS, as we all know to be true from the Biblical scholars.
Now just imagine this for one second, he united over one million people using just his own voice, those God surrounded him with, and the guidance of God. How would you do that?
You have no internet, no cell phone, and hell, they were still chiseling on stone back then. Remember the stone commandments? They had no paper or pencil from which to write. So how the hell did he do it? I have pondered this question for the past six years a great deal. What words did the great Moses say to have over one million people leave their homes and cross the bottom of the red sea to seek their freedom?
At the time, all they had to offer THE PEOPLE was themselves. People had to trust an individual for what that person’s morals, principles, and own words were worth. Moses didn’t do this all by himself of course, he had Aaron. Aaron helped him immensely with the people. However, Moses remained their leader and was a first-person contact with God through his faith. I will leave the details of the remarkable story of Moses for you to research, but as far as Patriots go, Moses definitely was a patriot of land he had never seen but believed and knew existed for him and his people. He believed this because God told him so.
There are so many more patriots from history, too many to mention, but these few give us just a tiny portion of how America was made, how our people became so strong-willed and the sense of TRUE PRIDE we as citizens should have in our great nation and its founding.
Let’s fast forward to the 1900s; by then, innovation was really booming, and so were the wars. All nations seemed to be at war in the early 1900s; this put a significant strain on the people of America. So for our most influential generation of patriots, I give you:
The American people of the greatest generation.
From 1901 until 1927, we call this the greatest generation of our time. This generation sacrificed from many directions, even here on the front while our men had gone off to war. This was World War I and the start of the great depression, one of the most tragic times in our nation. This era starved plenty of our people. Much of our population was malnourished, especially by today’s standards. The nation was rationing food with paper stamps per household. Women made their own clothes, and many children worked on the streets. Some children as young as six would be working shining shoes or selling newspapers and flowers.
In this, we suffered like our men on the battlefields at home. Yet, we sacrificed as a nation to preserve it for future generations to come. Our people came together to feed and help each other, and communities began depending on each other for help. It was a terrible time, but it showed the suffering our people would endure for each other and those who would come after them. To this day, there has never been as much suffering in our nation as in the era of the greatest generation, those who literally starved as a country to keep our freedoms. Not only were they patriots, but they were also the heroes that paved our paths and set the stones of this country’s future!
Dr. Martin Luther King was one of America’s first justice warriors seeking equality in modern times. He was inspired by the Bible, Fredrick Douglas and other historical figures. Dr.King was a brilliant man who loved all people. He worked to unify our people, no matter their skin color. He loved all people and prayed for their love of others in return.
He had a dream that became the American dream for all Black Americans. However, Dr. King sacrificed his life to achieve this dream and make a better America for all Americans, again, regardless of skin color. To give your life for the freedoms of another, now that’s a sacrifice. A true patriot of our nation, Dr. King would stand alone for what was right if it meant a better America for all. In the end, he wasn’t alone, and he marched with thousands of Americans, Black and White, before he was assassinated in 1968. Soon after, many laws were changed. As a result, more freedoms and opportunities opened up for Black Americans. Unfortunately, Dr king didn’t Iive to see his efforts and dreams come to fruition. Our people will never forget his great sacrifice. He was a hero!
The one thing all of these past patriots have in common is their patriot pride, love for their people, and the passion they held for their nation. So many sacrificed their very lives for knowledge, freedom, and prosperity. They gave up so much yesterday for what we have today. Their sacrifices were immense no matter what nation they were birthed from. Yet, as a result, they have paved the way for the world through the protection of freedom, Capitalism and genuine innovation. There are so many more, too many to mention, but these few give us just a tiny portion of understanding into how America was made, how our people became so strong-willed and, as stated previously, the sense of TRUE PRIDE we as citizens should have in our great nation and its founding.
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