An entry from my journal March 6, 2008.
172nd anniversary of the battle of the Alamo. Not very popular to reflect on that today, even here in Texas. But I do. Fess Parker when I was growing up is part of why. I had a coonskin cap. The romance of a doomed last stand. The fact that they were largely civilians and that they could have run or surrendered at least up until the final attack.
But they chose to stand and fight. Yes, they expected reinforcements but they didn’t fold when the help didn’t come. The historical weight is so immense — the US being a continental power and then a superpower — from the efforts of so few. Yes, the war-winning battle was at San Jacinto and the battles at the Alamo and Goliad were fruitless defeats with no effect on the war. But the men who fought there didn’t know that.
I think the question sometimes raised, “What are we willing to fight and die for?” is misplaced. Clearly when our freedom is under attack, we’re willing to sacrifice. The hope is that the day will come when we won’t have to and we can remember the Alamo as a step along that path. The real victory will be not that we draw strength from their example to fight new battles today but that we will use the chance they gave us to build a world where freedom is universal and wars are unnecessary. We are not remotely in sight of that goal.
So today we look at the ghosts on the opposite shore and nod sadly to each other that there will be yet more mornings like Sunday, March 6, 1836.
