Ken Burns and "The American Revolution"

It was a number of years ago when one of my friends, who was from my parent’s generation, invited me to lunch.

He was a senior partner at one of Wall Street’s leading investment banking firms. The firm’s private dining room had a beautiful view of the New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.

My friend always loved to tease me about my baby boomer generation from hippies, to left wingers, to the latest New Age trend.

“I told our chef not to cut off the green stems of your strawberries, because the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine says that’s where over 95 percent of the vitamins are located,” he quipped to me one time.

Well, I was amazed when one time he turned to me and said, “Rick, yesterday I had the most delightful lunch with somebody from your generation. This baby boomer was actually intelligent and knew what he was talking about.”

“Who was it,” I asked?

“His name is Ken Burns, and he is a documentary filmmaker. He’s in the process of making a multi-part documentary about the Civil War,” my friend explained.

“Of course, he was looking for money. But you know what? This Burns guy was so interesting and intelligent, that I think we are going to give it to him,” my friend added.

It wasn’t that long after this conversation that my youngest son and I sat spellbound watching the Ken Burns’ PBS series: The Civil War. Burns could make old time photographs come alive, and the historians he used for commentators soon became TV rock stars.

I was up in New Hampshire where Burns lives. He co-owns a restaurant that in many ways looks like an inn from the Revolutionary War era. We were eating dinner when Ken Burns himself walked into the restaurant.

I wanted to stride over to him, shake his hand, and tell him how much his documentaries on the Civil War, baseball, World War II, and jazz have meant to me. But I said to myself, “Probably 50 million people have already walked up to him and said the same thing. He doesn’t need such comments from me and he probably would rather just have his privacy.”

But now Ken Burns has come out with another important documentary on PBS, which is well worth seeing. It is called The American Revolution, and you can stream it if you go to the PBS website.

The project was started towards the end of the Obama presidency. However, I believe that, given recent events and trends, this documentary series has even more power and punch to it than Burns could have realized when he started making these episodes. In fact, the series is broken down into six different episodes.

I think there are some important spiritual principles that Burns’ documents, and they have incredible significance during these modern times, including:

It Didn’t Take a Majority to Win the American Revolution

The best estimates of public support during the revolution seem to run as follows: 1/3 of the population supported the Patriots; 1/3 of the population supported the British monarchy; and 1/3 of the population just wanted to be left alone. This last 1/3 of the population drifted one way and then another during the course of the war.

What Was Important Was That with a Critical Mass Supporting the Revolution, the Patriotic Movement Could Go On

With this critical mass of active support, it was possible to sustain the Patriots’ challenge to the British imperial system despite defeat after defeat.

The British could occupy New York, Boston, Charleston, etc. But they were powerless to stamp out the American patriotic movement.

Christianity faced a similar situation in the Roman Empire. The early Christians controlled no cities or provinces. And yet with a critical mass of support, and it was not the majority of the population, the Christian movement kept growing like topsy each year.

What I take away from this is that it doesn’t matter whether or not a majority of the population is going to church or not. What really matters is: Am I remaining true to what I really spiritually believe? Am I a “keeper of the flame”? Trends come and go. But am I following a path that makes sense given my “North Star”?

Our Founding Fathers and Revolutionary Soldiers Showed Incredible Courage and Fortitude for What They Believed:

The American Revolution was not won by “sunshine patriots,” to borrow a phrase from Thomas Paine. They risked and endured so much for what they believed. I have never faced a challenge such as that. But I hope that I would have shown such guts and fortitude in standing up for what I believe.

I can sense that in my small way, I have gotten stronger about this. There was a time when I didn’t want people seeing me reading the Bible or The Daily Word on an airplane or a bus. Now I don’t care who sees me doing this, and I am more than willing to get into a conversation about it with anybody. I know that this is small potatoes compared to the patriots who fought in the battle of Long Island or lasted through Valley Forge. But you have got to start somewhere.

I Also Developed Tremendous Respect for George Washington

Washington was 6’3” tall in an area where the average height was about 5‘4“. Also, Washington rode a white horse. He looked like an easy target for a British marksman. But there was Washington time and again at the front lines rallying the troops. Washington was not a '5 miles behind the front lines' general.

Washington was also the man who refused to become America’s king when his officers and enlisted men wanted to give him the crown. That sense of humility and real purpose was so important as part of America’s 'guiding star' to “form a more perfect union.”

Ken Burns also shows some of the darker sides of America’s Revolution, including the horrible treatment of African-Americans, Native Americans, and many women. Burns does not pull punches, and that only enhances the beauty and reliability of his work.

We are coming up to some major anniversaries of the American Revolution. It is important to spend some time reflecting on what it was all about, and the hopes, dreams, and visions of the Patriots.

I think the anthropologist, Margaret Mead, put it so well when she said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick