Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Why’d they ride?
The King had had enough. He told Parliament there’s trouble in Massachusetts: the subjects are meeting and not listening to us.
Parliament had had enough. In February 1775 they told the King, very humbly of course: “we find that a part of your Majesty’s subjects, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme Legislature, that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said Province.”
Some of His Majesty’s subjects in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay had had enough. On April 18th 1775, two subjected dudes named Revere and Dawes rode through the night to warn the countryside: the Redcoats were coming for their guns because the subjects wouldn’t shut up and listen – you know – to His Majesty and the supreme Legislature (the one in London).
“The shot heard round the world” is from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s commemorative poem, the Concord Hymn. Before the world heard their shot, His Majesty had heard their word.
Subjective shots because of spirited words: time to ride …
Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Next Heal Union: tomorrow, 19 April and the 240th Lexington, Concord and Free Speech.
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner