Today, in 1775, colonists chose to stand up and say “NO!” to the King of England’s administrators….and the army which enforced their rules.

They chose not to be disarmed, not to allow their powder and shot and cannon to be confiscated, and to fight the authority that thought that it was OK to take it. To lose their means to resist. They chose, instead, to keep that means to resist, to defend what was theirs, to have the ability to continue to say “Enough!” to the authorities.

They stood, and fought. While I doubt those colonists wanted a war, they were presented with the choice to either have a war, and stand as free people, or to knuckle under and be serfs. They chose the former.

From their actions that day began the birth of the country that became the United State of America. Like most births, there was blood and pain and mess….but birth a new nation they did.

Sending the soldiers of the King away in defeat, hounding them back to their barracks, sent a message that the colonies would not be ruled from afar, would not be taxed to ruin by a monarch from across an ocean, and would instead choose their own destiny.

That battle that began on Lexington Green…. happened 247 years ago today, in 1775.

Parker’s words at Lexington Green: “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

Good words then, and good words today.