Stars

The redcoats were the greatest soldiers on earth, battle-hardened and lead by brilliant generals. Their cause was not unjust. Taxes were negligible, and protective garrisons were exorbitantly expensive. The American demand for representation was extraordinary. The reality was more protection without taxation, than taxation without representation.

The expectation of liberty is not reasonable. How dare the slave yearn for freedom. What in nature is free? Every living thing is in bondage to necessity. Appetite follows after us the way water flows to the sea. A fence around a graveyard is a meaningless sop to our fears -- death is everywhere. No words exist that can soften the first shock of grief. What is freedom, in such a world.

Everything.

Our flag is adorned by stars. I cannot say that it was the first to bear such symbols. But we are the first to aspire to them. We take it as our purpose to proclaim liberty unto all the nations. But the wind always blows. Freedom is born in blood.


J