Letters

If, perhaps, you are having a hard time dealing with the current ugly spectacle in D.C., then perhaps you might wish to distract yourself as I do — with Ken Burns’s documentaries about America. “The Civil War” is simply extraordinary.

Today, we all we all need an extra special tutorial on our nation’s proud history, to fully remind ourselves of just what challenges and struggles we have as Americans successfully overcome in our nation’s long proud history. Many.

Let me share this family story to illustrate. This is how my family got to come to America.

My many times great-grandfather John Conlon, on my mother’s side, came from horse farmers in Galway, Ireland. His dad, also John Conlon, decided to send 14-year-old John to Dublin to apprentice with a friend who owned a large livery there.

One night, it was pitch-black as he set out for his lodging. Suddenly, he got a zap to the head, and when he awoke he was at sea, aboard a British warship bound for Boston. He arrived just in time for the battle of Bunker Hill.

John had been swiped off the street by a British press gang. Sadly, the Brits did that sort of thing. Sad but true.

A few days out of Boston, the kidnapped men were issued their red coats and blunderbusses, together with this admonishment: “Look sharp, my men, for you’re fighting for the king now.”

Please understand this one true fact: There is not now nor ever any Irish wiling to fight for the king.

At his first opportunity, young John turned his redcoat inside out and joined up with those rascally colonists.

When the hostilities finally ceased, the young John, now a grown man, was granted 1,000 acres on the Connecticut River for his long service. John founded the town of Windsor Locks, Connecticut. He sent for his family in Ireland, and the horse farm he founded there prevailed as a success for over 100 years.

My grandmother Alice, the last of 12 children, was born there. She proudly told me this story at least a million times. And, today, I proudly tell it to you so that you may be inspired to take a stand against this our current modern American tyranny. This is our job as citizens.

So stand up and yell at this White House. Stand up for America. All of you. We all need to be reminded of just what it means to be strong American citizens We are being challenged. Accept this challenge. See to it that we prevail. Do not give up.

Stay strong, my brother and sister American citizens. We will, we must, prevail. America is worth it.

Suzanne Murphy

Southampton