Take the M3 west from London.  At Popham, the M3 veers south.  Keep going west on A303.  Take the Bullington exit and follow that highway as it tends southwest through Heath House, Stockbridge and East Winterslow at Lipscombe Corner.  From there, follow the signs to Salisbury.  Then watch for directions to Salisbury Cathedral.  If you’re lucky, you’ll arrive, like I did, on a day with heavy fog.  Even ordinary structures can appear mystical on foggy days, but the Salisbury Cathedral rises like a Tolkien fantasy coming to life  before your eyes.  The spire is the tallest in England--over 400 ft. (I still can’t bring myself to give the measurement in meters.  Just stubborn I guess.)  But in heavy fog, that spire might as well go on forever as the pinnacle just disappears in the mist. 

Once you step inside the grand structure itself, a couple of things happen at once.  First, you’re ashamed of your muddy boots.  Probably you’ve spent some time  walking around the grounds first, being amazed at the majesty of the place.  Next, even if you’re not an Anglican, something makes you want to take your hat off.  And, even if you’re not an Anglican, there are good reasons to do so.  It might be enough to know that the world’s oldest working clock is in there.  Dated from 1386.  Imagine that.  Here’s a gizmo that was keeping time (more or less) since 100 years before Columbus set sail for America (give or take).  But that’s not it.  It might be the solemn worshipful atmosphere intended to be impressed on the mind by the builders of all early English Cathedrals.  Maybe.  Then there are the tombs of all those honored knights and churchmen.

But, to tell you the truth, I wanted to clean my boots and remove my hat because this cathedral houses one of the last remaining copies of the original Magna Carta.  You know.  The document where the English king was forced to agree that he was bound to obey the law just like everybody else.  Now this is a principle that all manly men hold near and dear to their hearts.  They really don’t like being told what to do, and they won’t stand for it long if everybody isn’t  playing by the same rules.

Now a windbag like me could go on for fours score and seven pages about this document--being as it is one of the foundation documents for our modern notions of individual rights.  But that’s not the point of this column.  We’re talking about reverence.  Every manly man I’ve known, heard about or read about has lived by a code.  He might not be able to put it into words, and he might keep it to himself even if he could articulate it.  But it guides his behavior as surely as Scorpio follows Orion across the night sky.  And the well-spring for that code is a deep reverence for something outside a man that he holds precious; sometimes more precious than life.  Think of something that would justify a pledge of one’s life, fortune and sacred honor.

Let’s pick something easy from the list of ideals that manly men hold in reverence; the right of every man to be free to think for himself.  This week marks a number of important historical landmarks.  Here are some of them.  January 30, 1948, Gandhi was murdered; 1968, the “Tet Offensive” begins in Vietnam. January 31, 1606, Guy Fawkes executed for treason; 1876, U.S. orders all native Americans to move to reservations.  February 2, 1933, Hitler dissolves the German Parliament; 1989, the last Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan; 1990, de Klerk recognizes the African National Congress and promises to free Mandela.  February 4,1783, hostilities officially cease between England and former American colonies; 1789, George Washington unanimously elected President of the United States; 1861, Confederate States of America formed; February 5, 1917, Congress overrides President Wilson’s veto and bans most Asian immigrants from entry into the United States.

There’s a lot I could add to this list as the week is plump with events that bear on the question of man’s freedom “to be.”  But I will end with Feb. 3, 1468, the day Gutenberg died.  He, of course, is given credit for the invention of the printing press.  Where would the struggle for freedom be if the written word was restricted to the hands of the few--the aristocracy and clergy for example? 

I’m Hink and I’ll see ya.

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