The Shot Heard 'Round the World

Never forget.

Americans, Never Forget that on this day, 233 years ago, somewhere between 50 and 70 militiamen (farmers, shopkeepers, tradesmen--nothing more) took up arms, and with a courage that I may never know stood muzzle to muzzle with arguably the finest and best trained army in the world.

They didn't stand a chance. But that didn't matter to them.

All that mattered was that a tyrant stood with his boot on their necks, and they would no longer take it lying down.

So they stood, shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors and friends, facing columns of tautly-drilled, red-coated Infantrymen, who could load and fire their shiny muskets three times every minute. That may not seem like a lot today, but then, it was faster than any other army in the world. Imagine a thousand men in a line, firing every twenty seconds. That is a lot of lead flying downrange.

Yet these militiamen reached down inside themselves, and found the courage to face this army, and on that day, the world heard more than that one shot. They heard a new nation cry out with one voice, "We will not go down without a fight!"

And though those 50 to 70 men were brushed aside like so many gnats from a horse's brow, that cry was echoed throughout the countryside, until after many years of battle and toil, America emerged to be the beacon of freedom for all to see.

God Bless America, and Never Forget

Freedom is Never Free.