March 2009 San Antonio

This past week I traveled to San Antonio for a conference. I stayed about a block away from the Alamo. I had an opportunity between meetings to go for a run along the Riverwalk and through the Alamo and Travis Park. What I saw while out on the run was somewhat disturbing to me. I can tell you that I had to stop running about a half hour in as my IT Band has been acting up lately so I had to walk back. The streets of San Antonio are very clean and the Riverwalk is a pretty place. Travis Park was where allot of San Antonio's homeless gather to hang out and help eachother. Pictured below is Travis Park and next to that is a picture of an EDAR which you can click the link below for EDAR.org to see more on them and what they do.

It was a discouraging feeling. It brought me back to worse days for myself and the feelings I had experienced during those tougher times for me. I realize that some do actually choose that lifestyle and that is their choice. There were others that I saw that is is not their choice to be there. They are the lost ones. They are the ones that worried me. As you will read below I was at the site of the battle that took place literally 173 years ago and what I saw is a new battle our society faces on every street in every town and most of us have no idea as to how to address it. There are no easy answers. This is a battle which we must help our brothers and sisters not by handing out $$$ and funding bureaucracy. This is a battle in which we must gather ourselves and provide food, shelter and support to help those who want help. We should not just hand things over but we must try and get these folks into a place where the opportunity to learn and change can happen. My latest charity EDAR (Everyone Deserves a Roof) http://www.edar.org/ is a start along with 2 other charities that I try and help Right Turn http://www.right-turn.org/ and The ARC http://www.thearc-metrowest.com/ Please help us IronNutz make a difference and give what you can to these charities through my websites and know that what I can't do WE CAN. I hope you enjoy the piece of history so we don't forget The Alamo but more importantly my hope is that we won't forget that the person you walk by on the street may one day be you, your son or daughter, your brother or sister, a friend. We must try and do what we can to make a difference.

Regards

Kevin :)




The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) is the most famous battle of the Texas Revolution. After a revolutionary army of Texian settlers and adventurers from the United States drove all Mexican troops out of Mexican Texas, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led an invasion to regain control of the area. Mexican forces arrived in San Antonio de Bexar on February 23 and initiated a siege of the Texian forces garrisoned at the Alamo Mission.
In the early morning hours of March 6 the Mexican army launched an assault on the Alamo. The outnumbered Texians repulsed two attacks, but were unable to fend off a third. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian soldiers retreated into the long barracks or the chapel. Several small groups who were unable to reach these points attempted to escape and were killed outside the walls by the waiting Mexican cavalry. The Mexican soldiers fought room-to-room and soon had control over the Alamo. Between five and seven Texians may have surrendered; if so, they were quickly executed on Santa Anna's orders. Most eyewitness accounts reported between 182 and 257 Texian dead, while most Alamo historians agree that 400–600 Mexicans were killed or wounded. Of the Texians who fought during the battle, only two survived: Joe, spared because he was a slave, and Brigido Guerrero, a Mexican Army deserter who convinced Mexican soldiers he had been imprisoned. Women and children, primarily family members of the Texian soldiers, were questioned by Santa Anna and then released.
On Santa Anna's orders, three of the survivors were sent to Gonzales to spread word of the Texian defeat. After hearing this news, Texian army commander Sam Houston ordered a retreat; this sparked the Runaway Scrape, a mass exodus of citizens and the Texas government towards the east (away from the Mexican army). News of the Alamo's fall prompted many Texas colonists to join Houston's army. On the afternoon of April 21 the Texian army attacked Santa Anna's forces in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the battle many Texians shouted "Remember the Alamo!" Santa Anna was captured and forced to order his troops out of Texas, ending Mexican control of the area, which subsequently became the Republic of Texas.
By March 24 a list of names of the Texians who died at the Alamo had begun to be compiled. The first history of the battle was published in 1843, but serious study of the battle did not begin until after the 1931 publication of Amelia W. Williams's dissertation attempting to identify all of the Texians who died at the Alamo. The first full-length, non-fiction book covering the battle was published in 1948. The battle was first depicted in film in the 1911 silent film The Immortal Alamo, and has since been featured in numerous movies, including one directed by John Wayne. The Alamo church building has been designated an official Texas state shrine, with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas acting as permanent caretakers.