America's Founders' Sense Of Destiny

I'm just now getting around to reading David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning John Adams. I enjoyed 1776 quite a bit when I read it last year (shortly after completing Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin).

While I don't feign believe reading three books makes me an expert, I'm struck by how momentous America's founders knew their actions were. Many of my generation, seemingly, seek to earn their legacy in the form of liquidated stock options or through some other corporate means. I wonder how many would be willing to make the sacrifices those such as Adams did, when returning to his farmstead, exhausted and on King George III's must-hang list, after an eight-month tour in Philadelphia he was told he needed to sail to France (in the winter, no less). People really didn't cross the Atlantic then. But he did, much to the chagrin of his wife, not knowing if he'd even survive the journey. And, of course, the rest is history.

What's amazing to me is the sense of destiny such founders as Adams, John Hancock, George Washington (who did nothing but retreat for months, seemingly), Franklin and others possessed. Where'd they muster that strength? How'd they overcome self-doubt? How'd they know, or convince themselves, that the path they were blazing would prove victorious?

Today, if you're wrong, maybe you lose a few thousand dollars on a business gamble or your job. You sign up with the next firm and try again. These fellows, if they failed, were to hang. And they knew it.

Surely some of my thoughts are sparked because I'm preparing to fly on my own. As I prepare to found two new companies myself, I recognize the importance of discerning between ego, confidence and disillusionment. As Clint Eastwood once said so well as Harry Callahan, "A man's got to know his limitations."

Somewhere between dreams and failure lies discerning where those limitations exist. I'm glad America's Founding Fathers placed sufficient faith in themselves, their values and their ideals.

Can you imagine who'd invest in their endeavor today? You have no standing army, but you're going to successfully defend yourselves against the world's most advanced military? You're having difficulty unanimously agreeing on a Declaration of Independence? You can't figure out how individual colonies will be represented in a new government? Your country is blockaded by a most impressive navy and everything from clothing to foodstuffs is in scarce supply?

Yet, somehow they overcame. And, aren't you glad they did? I am.