Lexington

The Pirates do not have a first baseman on their roster.

The pitcher they got rid of to Cleveland, Diaz, looked good against them.

They do not have a power hitter in any of the traditional power positions on the team.

The shortstop they developed in their farm system is playing center, a position he has never played. Ever.

Their shortstop, the prime infield defensive position, is mediocre at best.

Second base is played by a nice, older guy.

Catcher? Who knows what will happen?

My favorite game, and even I am having trouble watching them.

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Should universities have more leeway under the First Amendment? Does their 'search for truth' demand latitude?

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Lexington

I could not in good conscience write about politics during Easter. But the British engaged the American citizens at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, initiating a military conflict that would change the world. A secular event that has almost religious significance.
That was 250 years ago, and somebody of importance should have raised a fuss. But, unbelievably, the national emphasis was upon the 30th anniversary of the McVeigh Oklahoma City bombing.
We cannot rely on these national leaders to shepherd our national priorities and culture. Remember, last year, on Easter, President Biden declared it "National Transvisibility Day." No, preserving the basic historic and social fabric contributing to the national woof and warp falls upon us.
Concord Hymn

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

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.

 

 

April 19, 1775
At about 5 a.m. on April 19, 1775, 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, marched into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the “shot heard around the world” was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying, and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun. 

The British moved to Concord, where they found more resistance, suffered heavier losses, and withdrew. They were attacked on their retreat through Lexington and were harassed with more losses all the way to Boston.

This set the stage for the horrific battle at Bunker Hill.

There are so many wonderful stories about this chain of events that led to the disruption of the great British Empire and the creation, haltingly, of a new world order. Every child should know them. It would help them define themselves in this shifting world. Certainly, astonishing individual achievement, sacrifice, and heroism played a part. In the opinion of many, alcohol--and accident--may have been involved. 

But so was history. The times of men--not princes, men--molded by the past since the days of hunter-gatherers, had crept silently along in the shadows of Sumeria, Egypt, the Middle East religious cauldron, India, Greece, Persia, Rome, and the philosophical movements of the West. History took those slumbering "embattled farmers," born and bred in the forge of the French and Indian War, and called them to their part.

In the face of such momentum, men and time, the unfortunate British had no chance.