I'm on the eighth floor of the Hyatt looking through a window that looks out at the primary icon of Texas history, the Alamo.
It is a small structure dwarfed by the buildings in downtown San Antonio, just a few blocks from the Riverwalk, another major attraction of this city.
The day before, my friend and I had toured the Alamo.
Most people have just seen pictures of the building itself and aren't aware that the Alamo was a Catholic mission where people lived.
There are other buildings on the grounds near this simple stone building.
My friend, a Yankee who has lived in Texas for 20+ years, asked me why the Alamo was so important in Texas history.
After all, everyone who fought there died.
One man left before the battle.
He's the one who told us that General Travis drew a line in the dirt and told them anyone who crossed that line could leave.
The story is no one did.
One man did leave, however.
He said he wasn't ready to die.
After the battle was over he told people about what happened.
My mother told the story of the Alamo as an example of needing to face our problems and not run away from them.
She said, "There is no back door to the Alamo.
" She was wrong.
Not about facing problems, but about there being no back door.
There is one.
I walked through it as I left the stone building.
Myth surrounds any seminal historical event.
Whether it be that no one crossed General Travis's line in the sand, or there being no back door to the Alamo.
We have to do some reading and investigating to separate the black and white historical truth from the myth.
Why is the Alamo so important in Texas history? The bravery of those who fought and died became the rallying cry in further battles.
"Remember the Alamo," as they fought off the Mexican forces.
It was just outside of Houston, in San Jacinto, that Santa Ana was defeated and the Texas battle for independence was won.
They myth of that battle is that the Mexican general was literally caught with his pants down.
He was with a Mexican prostitute when the Texas army overran him and his forces.
If you've ever heard the song, "The Yellow Rose of Texas," you've heard the tribute to her.
There is a monument to Texas freedom in San Jacinto.
It is called, appropriately enough, the San Jacinto Monument.
Texans, being what we are, were sure it was taller than a similar structure in Washington D.
C.
, the Washington Monument.
We Texans are proud of our heritage.
To the victors go history and how it is written.
The truth is, we were strangers in a strange land that decided to make it our own.
I'm sure Mexican history has a very different view of the battles fought for what become the nation of Texas and later part of the United States of America.
It is a small structure dwarfed by the buildings in downtown San Antonio, just a few blocks from the Riverwalk, another major attraction of this city.
The day before, my friend and I had toured the Alamo.
Most people have just seen pictures of the building itself and aren't aware that the Alamo was a Catholic mission where people lived.
There are other buildings on the grounds near this simple stone building.
My friend, a Yankee who has lived in Texas for 20+ years, asked me why the Alamo was so important in Texas history.
After all, everyone who fought there died.
One man left before the battle.
He's the one who told us that General Travis drew a line in the dirt and told them anyone who crossed that line could leave.
The story is no one did.
One man did leave, however.
He said he wasn't ready to die.
After the battle was over he told people about what happened.
My mother told the story of the Alamo as an example of needing to face our problems and not run away from them.
She said, "There is no back door to the Alamo.
" She was wrong.
Not about facing problems, but about there being no back door.
There is one.
I walked through it as I left the stone building.
Myth surrounds any seminal historical event.
Whether it be that no one crossed General Travis's line in the sand, or there being no back door to the Alamo.
We have to do some reading and investigating to separate the black and white historical truth from the myth.
Why is the Alamo so important in Texas history? The bravery of those who fought and died became the rallying cry in further battles.
"Remember the Alamo," as they fought off the Mexican forces.
It was just outside of Houston, in San Jacinto, that Santa Ana was defeated and the Texas battle for independence was won.
They myth of that battle is that the Mexican general was literally caught with his pants down.
He was with a Mexican prostitute when the Texas army overran him and his forces.
If you've ever heard the song, "The Yellow Rose of Texas," you've heard the tribute to her.
There is a monument to Texas freedom in San Jacinto.
It is called, appropriately enough, the San Jacinto Monument.
Texans, being what we are, were sure it was taller than a similar structure in Washington D.
C.
, the Washington Monument.
We Texans are proud of our heritage.
To the victors go history and how it is written.
The truth is, we were strangers in a strange land that decided to make it our own.
I'm sure Mexican history has a very different view of the battles fought for what become the nation of Texas and later part of the United States of America.