This colorful NH state motto sign is above my desk. Each day when I enter my man cave, it's the first thing I see. I put it there on purpose as a reminder of what forms the inner core of my DNA - as if I need to be reminded!
Those words were written in a letter by General John Stark thirty-two years after he led his men in a victorious battle over the British red coats. The conflict took place in Bennington, Vermont on August 16, 1777 during the Revolutionary War. I've driven by the massive obelisk monument no less than forty times in my trips to and from NH to Cincinnati, Ohio.
General Stark was too sick to attend a reunion of this battle and sent a letter honoring the men he commanded. A part of that letter is just below. I feel what General Stark said all those years ago applies to what is currently going on here in the USA today:
“They were men that had not learned the art of submission, nor had they been trained to the art of war. But our astonishing success taught the enemies of liberty that undisciplined freemen are superior to veteran slaves.”
At the end of his letter, Stark included the famous line that had been touched upon years before in other historical conflicts of good vs evil. He intended this line to be said in a toast to his men at the reunion so the story goes:
“Live free or die. Death is not the greatest of evils.”
Think about that. You, as a veteran, or that loved one of yours who is a veteran, surely realized that in putting yourself in harm's way you were putting more importance on liberty - the freedom to exercise your God-given rights - over death!
It's heady stuff when you stop and think about it, right? General Stark had lived his early life under tyranny and knew the true value of freedom and liberty.
Not a day goes by that I don't ponder this. I often think about those moments of paralyzing fear my Dad must have felt as the Hun soldiers came clomping down the basement stairs of the farmhouse where he was alone attending to wounded soldiers.
He was quite possibly about to meet his Maker thousands of miles from home from his family and sweetheart. He was a young man of just 27 years old protecting the injured soldiers and the liberty you and I currently enjoy. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery.
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