Who else...

is loving the John Adams series? I love that time period, and I'm amazed at the great acting, the reluctance, the courage our forefathers showed. My mother used to love Irving Stone, who wrote historical biographies. I picked up the one about John and Abigail Adams when I was very young and began a fascination with their story.

I live in the country his courage and that of his compatriots built. My own many-greats-back grandfather fought in the infantry during the Revolution, but I am dumbfounded as to where they found the courage. I found myself crying at two moments in the series--when George Washington explained he was in mourning for the colony of Massachusetts and talked about duty at a time before anyone else understood what he meant--and when they read out the Declaration of Independence. Those words sealed their fates as outlaws and traitors--and founding fathers. It reminds me of a day in our own time--the man who faced down the tanks in Tienamen Square. How do you love freedom so much?

I ask that as a mother and wife, concerned with family and deadlines and getting dinner on the table and laundry washed--in a world where most of those chores are so much easier. These men and women had all these same responsibilities, and yet they took on the building of a country. I don't normally talk about the "big" concepts on this blog, but--as on the day the guy in China walked in front of a tank with his shopping bag--I wonder where the courage comes from.