Be a Lighthouse Not a Buoy

We watched "Hamilton" as a family and loved it! Lin-Manual Miranda is genius and so talented. We can't stop singing the songs and I keep finding myself singing, "You'll be back" or "I am Alexander Hamilton". There was an incredible lesson in leadership that was introduced in the earliest scenes of the play and played out in the Election of 1800. Aaron Burr was portrayed as an excellent politician, but held no definite position. In the play, here's Burr's advice to Hamilton in the opening. "Talk less. Smile more. Don't let them know what you're against of what you're for." Hamilton's response was, "you can't be serious." Burr simply stated as a politician would. "You wanna get ahead? Fools who run their mouth off wind up dead." Burr followed his own advice and climbed the political ranks. ​

Hamilton did not listen and held a position and made it known. He didn't care who he offended because the ones that agreed, followed him. He was a leader. Burr was a politician. In the Election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were deadlocked until they asked for Alexander Hamilton's endorsement. Hamilton hated Jefferson, yet he chose him. Here's his words in the play. "I have never agreed with Jefferson once. We have fought on like seventy-five different fronts. But when all is said and all is done, Jefferson has beliefs, Burr has none." Jefferson became the third president and the wound Hamilton inflicted on Burr's pride ultimately caused the duel that killed him. 216 years after the famous duel between the leader and the politician, Burr is vilified and Hamilton has a Broadway show honoring his life and accomplishments. Leaders stand for something and their mark is remembered. It's the difference between the lighthouse and the bouy. Burr is a buoy, rising and falling with the tides of life and popular opinion. Hamilton was the lighthouse, a rock-solid structure leading others to freedom.