Remember the Alamo

It’s a busy day around here today, so this will be brief.  I have to do my nor­mal chores and pre­pare for Game Night.  Plus, it’s the Spousal Unit’s birth­day, so I need to stop by [place] and buy [gift] that he would have found if I bought ear­lier.  (Shhhh, it’s a secret.)  Also, the Out­Laws are tak­ing on the Spawn for part of the week­end.  Super cool, but the house needs to really look bet­ter than usual, and I have to make sure I’ve packed them plenty of clothes.  I also am only halfway through The Watch­men, which is unac­cept­able, because in lieu of our nor­mal Game Night activ­i­ties of D&D and eat­ing junk food, we’re ven­tur­ing forth into the unwashed masses to watch the movie.  I really need to pick up the pace!

All that, and I need to find time to Remem­ber the Alamo! The Spousal Unit always reminds peo­ple that it’s Alamo Day, but never his birth­day.  I used to think it was silly.  That’s partly because it’s shame­ful how lit­tle his­tory I really learned from any of the classes I took.  As I get older and appre­ci­ate free­dom more and more, I actu­ally do like to stop and actu­ally con­sider the Alamo.  Today in 1836, Santa Anna’s siege was ended and the defend­ing Tex­ian and Tejano forces wiped out, but at stag­ger­ing cost to the Mex­i­can army.   Santa Anna’s bru­tal­ity and the lives of those who died became a ral­ly­ing cry for the rest of the Texas Rev­o­lu­tion.  Leg­end says that Sam Hous­ton reminded Santa Anna of the Alamo when he asked for kind treat­ment at the cul­mi­na­tion of the Texas rev­o­lu­tion.  I really hope that leg­end is true.

As Amer­i­cans, we have many hol­i­days devoted to free­dom and those who fight or have fought for our free­doms.  Some are only remem­bered as an excuse to eat grilled food and relax.  Many peo­ple take their free­dom for granted.  One of the beau­ties is that’s part of what free­dom is all about — you can do that if you want.  We’re not sub­jected to manda­tory cel­e­bra­tions of gov­ern­ment.   We even have the chance to take part in our own gov­ern­ment or not, as we choose.    That oppor­tu­nity allows us to get com­pla­cent some­times, though.  Because of that, despite my busy day, I didn’t want imag­i­nary heroes to supercede real one.  I did visit The Alamo’s web­site, to pause to remem­ber Jim Bowie, Davy Crock­ett, William B. Travis, and the oth­ers who died for lib­erty that day.

Next stop, The Watch­men!