Columbia

Columbia

For a long time, they lived in harmony.  They were supportive of each other in many ways. When they faced trouble, they stuck together. Their shared heritage created a bond that they both respected. In what was often a troublesome world, they remained close. Once when she was threatened, and it was a serious threat to her very survival, he stepped up and came to her aid. 

When the threat had passed, they returned to the relationship they had long enjoyed. She was grateful. He was bigger, stronger, and able to do for her what she was not yet able to accomplish for herself. He knew full well that he had, at least in a sense, saved her.  What he had done for her wasn’t easy, and the efforts and costs left him somewhat weakened. Regrettably, that began to change their relationship.

He saw himself as the power and strength in their relationship. He told himself that it was only because of him that she had made it through the recent assault that could have destroyed her. As had long been his view, he looked at her as a subordinate. In his eyes, she depended on him, she needed him, and without him she’d surely fail. And as is so often the case in power-over relationships, that was how she saw herself. So that’s how their relationship continued, but only for a short time.

He was older, much older in fact. His reputation was one of strength, power, and prowess. He was widely known and respected. She, on the other hand, had yet to build much of a reputation, if she had any reputation at all. Instead of standing on status based on the past, she offered promise, potential, and opportunity that was seemingly endless. In her youthful zest and zeal, there was clearly no limit on what she’d become, if and when she decided to strike out on her own. He had never recognized her latent potential, but she was about to teach him a lesson—a lesson that would change their world in ways neither of them could possibly have imagined. 

In an effort to regain his strength and replenish his resources, he began to make demands on her.  They started out small, but over time they grew. When she resisted, he increased the pressure.  He had the means and the resources to exert some serious, life altering pressure, and so he did. She surprised him when she met his pressure with pressure and countered his force with force.  

Sensing that their former relationship was irreconcilably destroyed, well beyond repair, she served notice. She was brief and came right to the point. She clearly explained what she saw as her God-given rights, rights he had no right to ignore or interrupt.  She then laid out in unmistakable terms how he had trampled those rights and disrespected her and their relationship.  And finally, in an unambiguous statement she made it clear that their relationship was over. She concluded by letting him know that moving forward, she was free of his control and independent of any authority he might have over her. 

He resisted harshly and with might, which she met with an equally determined resolve powered by a perseverance that in the end more than bested his. In doing so, she set a model for countless others trapped in similar relationships—a model worthy of emulation!

“He” was George III of England.  “She” was Columbia (aka Lady Columbia), the personification of the United States, a symbolic figure of American ideals such as freedom, liberty, and independence. Following the French and Indian War, George III sought to replenish the resources that he had committed to helping the American colonies during that war. As he did so, it became clear to the colonists, British subjects at the time, that they were being taxed with no legitimate representation within the British government. As they resisted what they saw as an injustice, the King’s involvement in colonial affairs increased. His growing intrusion into their affairs brought even more inequities, and their relationship ended. It ended when they declaration their independence.

In the end, American independence was defended, a new nation was born, and its star was set in the constellation of the world of nations. It took some time, but that new nation and it’s old adversary became allies. For more than two centuries, they each in their own way and jointly have changed the world.

Individual nations and the relationships in which they involve themselves thrive on mutual respect and shared commitment to grand ideals.  This year, as you celebrate American Independence, be mindful of how shared respect and committed cooperation can bring out the best even in those who were once bitter adversaries!