I've fallen in love...with Boston.

So much history here.  And it's not the history we learned in school.  So much propaganda, so much manipulating, so much of what we hate about politics.  The midnight ride of Paul Revere, for example, wasn't about the "The British Are Coming!" as much as it was about  Paul Revere saving his ass.

The Boston Massacre...total accident.  But what we've learned about it came from Paul Revere's engraving of it--which accurately depicts the event, but was intentionally presented out of context.  Historians even believe that Samuel Adams might have orchestrated the event that caused the English militia to start firing on the Bostonians.  Fascinating stuff.  Sam later went on to convince his brother to defend the Brits at trial--telling him it would be a win-win if John Adams (second president)  could save the soldier's hides.  Essentially, he was saying , How cool would it be to give the Brits a fair trial?  People would think about what an amazing thing this new country could be.

I walked from the Boston Common area, along the harbor, to the north area, back down to way south, and then back up again to the north.  It was truly humbling to walk these streets where our country started.  The men we celebrate were all rabble rousers, trouble makers, outlaws, and without them, we'd be Brits. 

Now, the right joke here would be something about "well, at least we wouldn't be French."  But without the French, we'd still be Brits.  Fascinating stuff.

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