For the past four years it has been the honor of my life to serve as Councilman of Baltimore County’s great 7th district.
One of the things that makes us special is that while we have faced, and will face challenges, we are blessed with many people and organizations that keep our rich history alive.
This is important because as we re-develop old industrial sites, see investements in new housing and new schools being built, we will lose our unique character if we forget the people, places, and events that have formed us, shaped us, and made us who we are.
Imagine what the men and women who stood in this spot 204 years ago thought as they saw British warships amassing just offshore, with almost 5,000 British troops ready to come ashore and take the port city of Baltimore. How fragile freedom and democracy must have seemed to them. American troops had already been defeated at Bladensburg and the British had already burned Washington D.C.
But our ancestors responded with the same courage, leadership and determination that runs through our veins and makes us the strong, proud community we are today.
Now, it takes those same qualities: leadership, determination, and teamwork, to put on an event as special as Defender’s Day.