There Was No Back Door to the Alamo
My mother raised us as Texans. Her great-grand father was one of the earliest Texas Rangers. We have some cousins who are descendants of William B Travis, the commander of the Republic of Texas forces at the Alamo. He died at the Alamo March 6, 1836. Future battles for Texas independence from Mexico included the battle cry, “Remember the Alamo!” Mom would say, about 130 years later, “There was no backdoor to the Alamo.”
Face Your Problems
The men who fought at the Alamo fought bravely. All but one of the men who had been in the Alamo stayed for the coming onslaught. They knew they were going to die but stayed to fight for their new country, the Nation of Texas.
What Mom meant by “There was no backdoor to the Alamo” is that you have to face your problem. If you run away from them they will simply follow you where ever you go. In the metaphysical community we talk about learning what you have to learn now or you just meet the same lesson later. In other words, if you need to learn about standing up for yourself, you will continue finding yourself in similar situations until you learn to be responsible for yourself and not be a victim.
The men fighting for Texas independence decided not to be victims. They decided to face those they considered the enemy. Yes, they all died. Their deaths also changed the course of history by becoming the rallying cry that ultimately led to the death of the Mexican leader who killed the men at the Alamo. (As always, history is told from the viewpoint of the victor. The Mexicans tell the story of how interlopers came into their land and took it away from them.)
Strength of Character
Facing adversity builds character. When you run away from difficulties, you do not learn what you can overcome. The poet Edgar Guest said it wonderfully in his poem “See It Through,” “When you’re up against a trouble, meet it squarely face-to-face… You may fail, but you may conquer. See it through.”
Children need to learn to face their problems and to admit to and then remedy their mistakes. Unfortunately, many parents protect their children so much they don’t learn to face adversity. When adversity does come, the youngsters, perhaps now young adults, haven’t gathered the strength of character to stand up for their truth.
Mom’s slogan, “There is no back door to the Alamo” is all about finding the strength within yourself and doing what you think is right. You learn that you have inner strength, and you increase it each time you exercise it.
