Learning

Gratitude 11/30/2025

I am grateful for the gift of a new day.
My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings I have.
I will appreciate the small joys and express my thanks in all circumstances.
Let my attitude of gratitude bring joy to others.

I’m so grateful I am able to continue to learn.

Last night I did my wake up at 2-3 am and not get back to sleep. I moved out to the couch and watched the rest of Ken Burns “The American Revolution. I had been halfway through Episode 5, so I finished watching that and watched Episode 6, the end.

I grew up in Northern Virginia with parents who took us to lots of historic sites and were very interested in American history. I was familiar with a few things. I knew about the Tea Party, Paul Revere’s Ride, “One if by land. Two if by Sea,” Lexington and Concord and the “Shot Heard Round the World.”

I’ve been to Philadelphia and New York and have seen the Liberty Bell.

I knew from my American and Virginia history that Washinton defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. I knew that Yorktown was near Norfolk and Jamestown and Williamsburg in Southeast Virginia. I went to band camp in Williamsburg when I was in junior high and we had gone there and Jamestown as a family a few times. And I’d been to Virginia Beach when I was in the high school marching band. But I hadn’t connected any of these places to the American Revolution.

Nor had I known anything about Britain’s southern strategy to capture the southern states when they couldn’t win in the north, even though they held New York City. When we visited Charleston, South Carolina on one of our family driving trips to Florida, and when I visited Roz Ragans, a wonderful art teacher and author of our elementary art program, in Savannah, Georgia, I had no idea the Revolutionary War was waged in those places.

All the times I rode on the train past “Trenton Makes. The World Takes.” sign in New Jersey and when I considered a job in Morristown, I never thought of the Revolutionary War having been waged there.

Never in my education did I consider that there were a whole lot of people who were born and grew up in America, who did not want to separate from Britain. Many “Loyalists” were happy to be subjects of the King of England. Many Native Americans fought on the side of the British because they thought of the “Rebels” as the true enemy who wanted to destroy them and steal their land. Many slaves fought with Britain because the English promised to free them from slavery.

I have known so much more about the Civil War. Growing up in a “Southern” state, I got a distorted version of that. I was confused about the cause of the Civil War coming out of elementary school in Virginia. Was it about “states rights” or “slavery.” It took me a while to realize it was about the rights of states to enslave people or not and it was a continuation of a struggle that was an open wound.

The American Revolution did not solve the issue of slavery. The writers of the Constitution tabled it because it was so divisive and people could not reach any common ground. So the problem just festered and festered and another battle between citizens was waged.

I had always thought the American Revolution was a noble cause and our Founding Fathers, particularly George Washington, were larger than life. But after reading many biographies of the Presidents, I realize they were just human beings like me. They made mistakes. They wanted to prosper. They wanted to own their own land and be able to pay their bills. They wanted the best for their families, their children, and their children’s children. There was an element of nobility, doing what was right, but also a vision for a better future, in this new land with so many opportunities.

Watching this series, I learned so much and put so many pieces together from my personal life, my life as a student growing up where I did, Virginia history, American History, and world history.

It was one epiphany after another. I experienced what I imagine my 2-year-old granddaughter experiences every day, which is so exciting because she’s learning and putting things together almost every minute.

I heard a quote recently to the effect of “We have to learn from history. We don’t have anything else.”

I certainly learned a whole lot and am thinking anew about many things. I know so much of the things I learn will die with me, but learning enriches my life as I’m living it. And that is enough.

Benjamin Rush January 1787

There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of the American revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over: but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government; and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens, for these forms of government, after they are established and brought to perfection.

I am so grateful to continue to learn and enrich my life.