Still Boston Strong after 300 years

Bill and I just got back from a weeklong visit to Boston to celebrate our 32^nd anniversary. We anticipated exploring a city founded upon our nation's ideals of freedom gained through sacrifice, and discovered a town that even after 300 years, still retains that persevering spirit.Our hotel was located on Boylston Street, midway between the sites of the two Boston Marathon bombings of April 15^th of this year. We didn’t realize the significance of the location of our hotel until a day or two after we arrived, and it wasn’t by any obvious signs of damage on any buildings. On the contrary, everything seemed quite normal with crowds of students and business people milling about the late September streets. Their return to routine life was our first clue that the “Boston Strong” attitude was alive and well.Exploring our nation's history was high on our list of things to do, so on our first day there, Bill and I walked the Freedom Trail, a 3-mile long brick path through Boston Common Park, past the Old South Meeting House, and onto the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre.We stopped in at Paul Revere’s 300 year-old home, where he survived two wives who bore him 16 kids. His first wife died after having her eighth child. Then he married another woman who had eight more. Then she died. The other women of the town must've seen a pattern developing, so he remained single until his death.The other thing about Paul that struck me was he ran a very successful silversmith business and had a huge family, while risking his life, (yes, he was captured by the British on the night of his famous ride), and all his worldly goods to fight for the freedoms that you and I now enjoy.Bill and I sensed some of that brave spirit in the attitudes of the people we met in Boston this week. Their courage through this last crisis comes from a legacy of not rolling over, not giving up; a history of staring down threats to liberty, and of sacrificing for the benefit of others.Here are a few thoughts from our week in Boston:

1. Giving up is not an option.
2. Hard work + sacrifice = blessing.
3. Our present blessings are often gifts from previous hardworking generations.
4. We are the link from one generation to the next.
5. We need to be strong links that persevere and sacrifice for the benefit of others.

Those are a few of my takeaways from this week. What, or who inspires you to persevere through crises?