It was colder than Hell, a strange contrast but commonly spoken by most folks then and now. The rebels tightened their belts, the belts that pulled their coats closer to their bodies, stepped into rowboats, and headed across the Delaware River to turn the tide of the American Revolution.
At the head of this rag-tag, half-frozen army was George Washington, a land owner whom, it was rumored, cut down a cherry tree in his youth and threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River.
This brash, impossible, invasion of the enemies’ encampment on the other side of the Delaware enabled the rebels, not yet Americans, to defeat the most powerful military force in the world. What was the incentive that inspired such determined effort by farmers, clerks, and others who called this land their home? That was it! This land was their home.
At another time and in another place, across the plains of San Jacinto, a vastly outnumbered Texian army surprised a Mexican army at its breakfast and captured the Mexican general Santa Anna. The cry “Remember the Alamo,” rang out across the land during the battle. As most people know, at least those people interested in Texas history, the Alamo was and is an old Spanish Mission not designed to be a fortress—a place where many men died defending a land which they now called home. Why would well-known figures, such as James Bowie and Davy Crockett, be willing to die for a land which was a colony of Mexico? The answer is in the question. They were willing to die in order to form a land free from the tyranny of Mexico City and Santa Anna. They wanted their own land.
“Never in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few.” And so Winston Churchill, that master of the English language, praised the Royal Air Force (RAF) for defending the British homeland from a much stronger German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The British pilots flying, their Spitfire fighters shot so many of the Luftwaffe bombers from the sky that Hitler yelled “uncle” and rescinded his order to bomb London into oblivion. The British pilots were defending their homeland.
Vladimir Putin, the bully of Russia, marched into Ukraine, thinking he was going to have a two-week war in order to annex that country. More than three years later he is still trying, and Ukrainians are still defending their homeland. In fact, it appears that Ukraine may be sending the bully home with a lesson learned, i.e. “Stay in your own lane, bro.”
What do these four anecdotes have in common? Each of the battles were fought by men and women in defense of their homes, and each were fought with inferior equipment to that of the enemy. What drives such resolve that combatants are willing to die to protect their homes? Their homes! They are willing to die to protect their homes. Even with inferior firearms, outnumbered cannons (or no cannons at all), against overwhelming air power as well as overwhelming ground forces, these defenders of their homelands had a quality their enemies did not have—the will never to surrender.
I hesitate to mention Iran, but I will. Iran is an anomaly. The citizens of that country seem to have little interest in saving their homeland from the religious fanatics who control it. They accept the deaths of thousands of their countrymen…but wait, this sentence give me pause. It is estimated that upwards of forty thousand Ukrainians have been murdered by the Ayatollahs because they dared to rise up against their masters. There seems to be no Patrick Henry to step up and say, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Ukrainians seem to have no leader who will come forth and declare, “I am for the people, not for the Ayatollahs.” Can it be that the people want neither liberty nor death. (The major exceptions, of course, are those who did accept death.)
With the help of Donald Trump, an opportunity now comes by which Iranians may be able to rid themselves of the Ayatollahs and form a government that no longer chants “Death to America” but instead, chants “Life to Iran.”
Carl Fowler is a retired professor of English at Amarillo College and lives in Amarillo.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Our land is ours | OPINION
Reporting by By Carl Fowler, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Carl Fowler, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
