I was in London this past summer and saw an article on a special exhibit there on the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence Day. I was intrigued and so I went.
As I learned, the value of the Tea thrown overboard at the Boston Tea Party would be over two million dollars today. The British authorities claimed that 400 crates had been thrown overboard. A patriot sent in a correction to the newspaper report from the British: 403. Contrary to the picture from the hit play Hamilton (from which they had costumes, including that of King George III), though the King was against the independence of the American colonists he gave a most graceful speech to parliament accepting the will of the people (American and British) and wishing peace and prosperity for both peoples. There were ledgers showing the cost of the war and objecting to the increasing demands for British soldiers to protect settlers against Indians. Settlers were moving West beyond the Appalachians and wanted protection, despite bounds set by Britain. British historians suggested that Parliament was fed up with the expenses of the American experiment and set some intentionally provocative taxes (without really thinking about the consequence of their political actions, hotheads!). What they promulgated came to be known in the colonies as “the intolerable acts.” Also in the collection was a coded letter from General Clinton to General Cornwallis warning him that Washington and American troops were descending on Yorktown (where Cornwallis ultimately surrendered his army in the last major battle of the war). There were a few letters from George Washington and one of 26 remaining original copies of the Declaration of Independence printed on July 4, 1776.
Benjamin Franklin
I couldn’t get enough, so I also went to the home in London where Benjamin Franklin lived for 15 years, from 1760-1775. He was ambassador for four of the colonies and worked to repair the relationship. He even offered to compensate for the lost tea. Ultimately, in order to prevent a duel between two innocent members of parliament accused of taking a letter which, in fact, Franklin had taken, Franklin confessed to his deed. Despite his popularity and credentials, (including a prestigious award by the scientific community for his work with electricity), Franklin learned that he was soon to be arrested. He escaped on a ship to America and on that ship decided that he was no longer a citizen of Great Britain, but an American.
Through the next several years, he was the only signatory of all four of these critical documents, the Declaration of Independence, the alliance with France, the peace treaty with Great Britain, and the American Constitution. I also learned that originally Franklin had been written into the play “Hamilton,” but Lin-Manuel Miranda was afraid the character would steal the show!
I found myself thinking about perspective,
The perspective of the British on the American revolution, the perspective of Franklin on Britain and how it had changed. Each of us has one. Our perspective can deepen, expand, grow. Or can become smaller, narrower. Dolly Parton often referred back to her childhood in a poor family in Appalachia. She chose to remember and nurture from her childhood a creative and generous spirit that she cherished rather than look for a justification in poverty for selfishness and greed. We have choices about the perspectives we assume. Franklin saw himself as a British citizen working for restoration of a relationship until in 1775, fleeing from London, he saw himself as an American.
In my book on the Lord’s Prayer, I described the first petition of the prayer with the subject of perspective. When we pray, “Hallowed be Thy Name,” we are acknowledging that there is more than us, more than what we can see, and that this Name belongs to one with immeasurable value and holiness. We are invited to see ourselves and others differently. It is a petition that invites us to move towards God, acknowledging that our perspective intrinsically needs to expand and grow. The popular bracelet of some years ago, WWJD, what would Jesus do, was precisely a challenge to recognize our intrinsically limited perspective. We pray therefore to see more and more clearly. In fact, “seeing” is one of the frequent subjects of Jesus in the gospels, and the healing of blindness one of the most frequent miracles he performs. When Bartimaeus was healed of his blindness, he got up and followed Jesus on the way. He showed that truly seeing can make clear what to do.
Lord, help me to see. Help me to see where I should be investing myself, my time, my energies. Help me to see myself more clearly, to see my weaknesses, limits and gifts and how much you love me. Help me to look at others with a love like your own. Help me to be filled with a sense of wonder every day at creation. Help me to see and to follow on the way like Bartimaeus.
