I reminder that that ride was just the beginning of a brutal day (make that years) of fighting and that errant acts by still anonymous individuals can be the stuff that starts wars. The Minute Man National Historic Park attempts to trace fighting along the battle road from Concord to Boston. I wonder how accurate and unbiased the story is as the victors are still telling it?!
But, tidbits that stuck with me:
 An errant shot by one minute man in Lincoln startled the Brits into firing, claiming the first American life.
 Smoke from one of their own bonfires alighting the City Hall (not the British setting their city afire) is what alarmed the Minutemen at the North Bridge to advance on the British.
 British shots fired without orders at the North Bridge led to the American order to fire and the war was on.
The slope is indeed slippery when emotions run high and the stakes are ones very liberty.

Within hours, the early ranks of just hundreds along this road swelled to thousands of men. Volunteers. They answered the call sent though curriers, church bells, bonfires and the two famous lanterns. My heart swells with pride. I am more that a little surprised at how powerful that feeling is. Maybe a little embarrassed too at how little I do today to make sure that our freedom to self govern that was so hard won continues to stand strong. Hmmm.