{"id":32600,"date":"2026-08-16T05:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T10:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/?p=32600"},"modified":"2026-08-15T17:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T22:24:23","slug":"through-the-glass-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/2026\/08\/through-the-glass-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"“Through the Glass” – Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Recently I was reading about the Romanov family in Russia; the absolute lack of compassion on the commoners compared with their murder. Both seem equally horrifying to my modern understanding: treating others as serfs or slaves and executing someone, especially children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah and I visited Boston; we wanted to get away from work (both job & home), and since it is an important anniversary for the United States, we chose a town that was instrumental in the Revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve struggled with being proud of the United States since well before 2016, but that was a year that horrified me – not due to a presidential candidate, but because of the public embrace of treating others as inferior and the justification of inflicting pain upon another person, especially children.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is still impossible to justify owning slaves, it is still impossible to justify class, race, gender, or religious constraints; but visiting Boston helped me regain a little bit of my pride in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one is perfect, in fact everyone is tragically flawed – our biases, willful ignorance, and stubbornness can be easily picked apart. But to see the beginnings of something that could lead to a nation that millions would flock to and hold up as “freedom” was a small breath of fresh air.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twice recently, I talked with a friend who had given up hope, and I realized hope is what we have, what drives positive change, and what can lead to a better future. We’re surrounded by bad news – social, environmental, financial – but there are people who have hope that they can make an impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Hamilton – they were ALL flawed even for their time; the same way we are now. But their hope 250 years ago allows me to live in a country where we can have hope for change and impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The entire neighborhood around Bunker Hill was decorated with bunting and other red, white, and blue decorations; and it made the walk up the hill from the USS Constitution to the Bunker Hill Memorial beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This statue is outside of King’s Chapel – the \u201cMemorial to Enslaved Persons\u201d (notice the open cage and free birds) in recognition of all the slaves owned by members and ministers of the Kings Chapel congregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

reflections on Independence Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,41,21,3783],"tags":[8647,8812,8816,6565,6518,227,3307,8801,11,1628,141,8811,8810,7131,8818,8819,8820,1485,271,84,450,319,4719,8825,8817,8823,5114,2497,107,8824,8821,8809,323,8815,8813,8822,8814,44,340,397,3638,144,6517,2852,2002,2879,901,72,1590,8827,8826,8828,80,3593],"class_list":["post-32600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture-skylines","category-celebrate-reflect","category-stars-streetlights","category-transportation-industrial","tag-8647","tag-26-08-09","tag-26-08-11","tag-28-200-f2-8-5-6","tag-a7r3","tag-american-flag","tag-art","tag-aug26","tag-august","tag-black-white","tag-boat","tag-boston","tag-boston-ma","tag-brick-building","tag-bunker-hill","tag-bunker-hill-national-monument","tag-bunting","tag-canon","tag-church","tag-clouds","tag-fence","tag-flag","tag-granite","tag-gun","tag-hull-street","tag-kings-chapel","tag-lamp","tag-light","tag-memorial","tag-memorial-to-enslaved-persons","tag-metal-fence","tag-milk-street","tag-monochrome","tag-north-end","tag-old-north-church","tag-old-state-house","tag-one-way","tag-reflection","tag-shadow","tag-shadows","tag-ship","tag-sky","tag-sony","tag-statue","tag-steeple","tag-stone","tag-street","tag-sunlight","tag-sunshine","tag-us-navy","tag-uss-constitution","tag-warship","tag-water","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32613,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32600\/revisions\/32613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourpointedstar.com\/gallery\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}