I spent yesterday on a cruise of the Tall Ships in Boston Harbor, which sailed here from around the world to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the War of 1812. It was absolutely stunning as the pics portray but it was as equally informative.
I profess a previous ignorance as to the significance of this chapter in our history but I am now enlightened. And inspired. (Warning this is a nerd rant.)
The war of Independence established our freedom from tyranny and oppression but the war of 1812, for the first time, defended it. And it all had to do with the open seas. Back then our survival as a new nation depended on international mercantilism, the inflow and outflow of people and technology, something that the UK took exception to.
They didn't beat us the first time so they thought they could put a stranglehold on us by regulating maritime commerce. Basically, they tried to beat the sh*t out of us into submission by sinking our ships.
It didn't work and we did not submit.
This history lesson has inspired me that although we were founded by people who took risks, though sadly we are now governed by those who only mitigate them. The vast majority of legislators today are lawyers who create laws to justify their space in office and ill equipped to defend us against the greatest modern threat.
Let me be clear, we are still at war though the threat isn't from cannon fire or fodder, it's cancer. Cancer is the sum of all of our fears; it's global and is no contender of age, ethnicity, gender, or species and it's time for us to collectively work to eradicate it.
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