Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Alamo

I had the unique opportunity to visit The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas today. It is the location where 185 brave men joined together in a single cause willingly giving their lives against an army of several thousand because they felt that freedom was worth fighting and dying for.

It is sacred ground. The building itself is now considered a shrine in honor of those that died as it well should be. The history was palatable as I walked around the place and on the grounds where the battle occurred.

Two things concerned me though as I was there. First was the tourist atmosphere that surrounded the grounds where The Alamo is located. One tourist shop after another, Ripley's Believe It or Not, on and on and on. Is this how we as a society view such a honorable and sacred location?

The second concern on my mind is how these men ... these ordinary men, from all walks of life, stood together for a single purpose and felt it worth dying for if need be. Certainly we have our young men and women in the military that make that stance and I am so grateful for them but they are indeed, military. What about you... what about me? Ordinary people doing ordinary things from day to day. If the time and the cause arose, would you ... would I lay down my day-to-day routine and be willing to die for a single cause? Is our society willing to do that or have we become to self-centered in our lives.