My father taught me much of what I came to believe. Because of him, I lived the first 66 years of my life with the naive belief that this country was exceptional. Because of him, I learned always to question authority. Because of him, I learned that there are some things worth fighting for.
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I love him for all of that. He is a part of my very being. I miss him terribly; I wanted to talk to him so many times during the last three years. But he was lucky; he left this world still naively believing in the exceptionalism of this country. Unfortunately, I have lost my naiveness.
Three years ago, when the governor decreed that we were not allowed to leave our houses, that we were not allowed to go to work, that our children were not allowed to go to school, and so on and so on, I literally lost my breath. I could not breathe; I was in a state of shock, disbelief. I suddenly understood how someone like Hitler could come to power. And then I became afraid, not of a virus, but of my government and my fellow citizens. I forever lost my sense of security; my country, my fellow citizens, was no better than any other nation throughout history. I think that has been the worst loss for me…no longer believing in my country.
So now you are asking, ”what is historic about April 18?” On April 18, 2020, I attended my first protest at the age of 66. I started to breathe again as we approached the state house in Concord, and I saw the hundreds of other Americans who understood what was happening and that it was all wrong.
On July 3, 1776, the day before we declared our independence, the colonists had more freedoms than we had in April 2020. The colonists could breathe fresh, clean air without covering their faces; the colonists could break bread with their friends in person; the colonists could worship in person; the colonists could comfort family in person. Overnight we had lost all those freedoms and so much more; it seemed to me that no one cared.
Luckily I was wrong. From the hell of our covid tyranny did come the brave organizers of that protest, who went on to create ReopenNH, now known as RebuildNH. I am eternally grateful to them. They helped an old woman to breathe again; they helped an old woman to believe again; they helped an old woman to find her courage. They are heroes, 21st-century patriots. They gave me back my life. Thank you.
As the old adage says, “Freedom is not free.” It is fragile and fleeting. It must be fought for every single day by every one of us.
“We the People” must find the courage to be free, to resist the allure of socialist propaganda, aka tyranny. Otherwise, I fear that this greatest experiment of humankind will “perish from the earth.”
Editor: Here are a few of the many archived images from that day.
