“Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” – Elizabeth Willing Powel

“A republic, if you can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin

This morning, July 4th, Rebekah and I took a short walk just before noon. We knew it was hot, yes, but then we also knew what I was planning to do for lunch and – God bless America – that meant really good bratwurst in even better buns along with potato-chips and then possibly cheesecake for dessert. To say nothing of the coming evening featuring hamburgers and fries and more.

So we were walking past Calvary Episcopal and the churchyard was looking – in the strong sunshine and deep shadows – a lot like “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” so we just had to take a wander through.

It is always a good wander, there among all the old tombstones and the family stories and the legends. But then it was noon and our Presbyterian carillon stepped things up for July 4 and we got not just America the Beautiful but patriotic music via bagpipes no less.

Scots Presbyterian pipes in the middle of the English Episcopal churchyard on Independence Day. This historic district was built on all of the above and then some, so it felt just right to hear it.

I grabbed a couple of photographs, but it was mostly about wandering and listening and being grateful for the wild coalition of home and heritage that makes Tarboro the exact right historic district for the retirement years of this Anglo-American and his Presbyterian Scots-American bride descended from Alexanders who signed North Carolina’s Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 and fought on Kings Mountain in 1780, as well as her Perkins ancestor who fought at Guildford Courthouse in 1781 – all thumbing their noses at King George and his minions… a family that will absolutely stand again against tyranny and the corrupt trappings of royalty, whenever and wherever they try to make a foothold in this the land of the free.

Listen. If the pipes fail to stir you then I don’t know what will. Regardless, Rebekah and I celebrate this day and honor the memory of those who made such difficult choices 250 years ago.

Of course we always have choices. That is why we are “A republic, if [we] can keep it…” (Benjamin Franklin’s famous response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

I say let’s keep it. In love and with deep thanksgiving for this great country – DEREK