“It’s four miles to the front and if you ride there you won’t make it back. You already look like death. What’s worth going in there for?”
“My men.”
That line from Young Washington brought a tear to my eye.
In a movie about stations in life, gaming the aristocracy, and rising to a new height, what did he hold onto?
Protecting and serving his countrymen.
And the way he does it is so American: a scrappy hustler with big desires. Searching every avenue to win the next break toward his massive ambition.
That’s a different side of the larger-than-life figure I don’t remember learning about from grade school. I was just taught hero worship to become a good employee.
But in an America where that path is overcrowded, it’s time to get back to our roots to find a different way forward.
Doubling back
So instead of starting at the end in awe of the glory, it’s worth starting at the beginning of Young Washington’s.
The story where he can’t get a formal education. His name doesn’t carry enough of a title to gain him access to it. But he reads and practices what he can with his half brother anyway.
With that education, he becomes a professional surveyor.
He sneaks that credential into Lord Fairfax’s house, finds the master, and offers the services of his newfound skills to survey a new purchase of land into Pennsylvania.
The intelligence from that trip? He takes it back to Governor Dinwiddie to land an officer position with the Virginia militia.
A station he watches the French burn down in front of him.
Diverging values
Every time he gains new responsibility, he meets new resistance from the system of British nobles. One that looks down on his name and his paltry land holdings as the only mark of a man.
The very people who should care about a menace in the Ohio wilderness grow too comfortable with their daily duties to do anything about it.
“Why won’t you go then?”
“Because I have a fortune to manage and a responsibility to the estate.”
- Exchange with his half brother
But no matter how big or small the disappointment, Washington picks himself up and finds a new way to serve.
Picking up where it left off
That’s still where we find opportunity today. In places others won’t look because they’re too comfortable managing what they already know. Even when those with the biggest resource pools turn us down the first several times until we can find what really adds value.
The movie takes the larger-than-life legend of perhaps the best American and makes it accessible. Not a perfect man, but one who was prone to mistakes.
Someone on the cusp of greatness in whose shoes anyone could see themselves.
It’s a reminder that outcomes aren’t fixed by the current system. And that ambition doesn’t mean sacrificing your neighbors to get there.
It’s also a reminder the way forward is messy and non-linear. That to make progress, you’re going to be humbled and need to take a step back to find another way around.
As repeated often through the movie, “Even a pawn can take a king.”
Go see this movie. Then find something big to take on.
That’s the best present America can have for its 250th birthday.
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Need more inspiring movies to watch with your family? Read these reviews before you go:
Liberty Begins At Home 
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