At some point, there will be no choice. Standup and get into serious trouble, or don't stand up for our country.
My ancestor, Samuel Hill, chose to stand... on April 19, 1775 as a Sergeant, later Captain, of the Harvard MA militia. He is recorded as responding to the Lexington Alarm, and Harvard is only about 13 miles from the field where the militia congregated above the Olde North Bridge, so I expect he was there. If not, later in the day he would have been shooting at the King's soldiers on the road back to Charlestown/Boston, possibly part of the group that ambushed the British column at Merriman's corner, since some of those are said to have marched 20 miles since 2 am, the ambush was sprung about 12:30.
General Gage, the British commander/governor in Boston soon wrote:
“The rebels are not the despicable rabble too many have supposed them to be, and I find it owing to a military spirit encouraged amongst them for a few years past, joined with an uncommon degree of zeal and enthusiasm
. . . .
In all their wars against the French they never showed so much conduct, attention and perseverance as they do now.”
Before that day, Samuel Hill was doing what we are doing, as a member of the Committee of Correspondence. Although they were also organizing for the fight, should it come. Captain Hill was later joined in the fight by another ancestor, Ephraim Chaffin, who married Hill's daughter, Sarah. They are my 5th and 6th great grandparents.
My great, great, great great grnadpapy was there when they dumped tea. 24 of of ancestral relatives of my surname fought in the revolution.