Stories give meaning.

We made our way into the crowded little room around displays of muskets and flags and other historical memorabilia. We maneuvered our strollers around to let other people in as the tour guide kept pausing his presentation of the history of the room. "It was in this room," he continued, "that the women and children hid when the soldiers breached the doors of the church. You can imagine how the husbands and sons, stationed just outside, fought to defend them...but they were outnumbered and lost. The attacking soldiers opened the door to the room, muskets held at the ready and found a room full of women and crying children. They lowered their guns and backed down and allowed them to go free...the only survivors of the attack on the Alamo."

Then he said something interesting. He said, "It is important that you hear and remember the stories of this place for it is the stories that give this place meaning. Without the stories, this is just another wall of another room of an old decrepit church known as The Alamo."