National Treasure and the Courage to Declare | Ryan Gregerson

0:00 Welcome to Yes And Land, where we say yes to the reality of yesterday and today, and we say and to the possibility, growth, and imagination of tomorrow. In 80 days, on July 4th, 2026, this nation turns 250 years old. Right now, I'm in Washington, D .C. And I've just been at the National Archives, where earlier I was looking at the Declaration of Independence. Not a copy, the document. The one signed by 56 men who knew when they put pen to paper that if they lost the war, that piece of parchment was their death warrant.

0:48 Today, we're talking about the courage to declare using a film that was practically made for this moment, National Treasure. Because what Ben Gates understood, And what those 56 men understood is that some things are worth risking everything for. And the question 250 years later is whether we still believe that. Here is what some people miss when they think about the founding of America. They picture ceremony, quill pens, wax seals, history unfolding in slow motion with the right music behind it. They do not picture what it actually was. A group of educated, terrified men committing treason the 2004 disney film national treasure opens with a grandfather passing a secret to his grandson a secret carried by their family for generations a secret so important has been hidden on the most protected document in american history the declaration of independence what i love about the film is not the treasure hunt it's it's the idea underneath it that the founding fathers were not just building a country They were building something they intended to last.

1:59 And early in the film, the main character, Ben Gates, makes this declaration that sounds insane to everyone around him. I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence. Now, strip away the movie plot and what Ben Gates is actually saying is, I'm going to do what no one else believes is necessary. I'm going to act when everyone around me thinks I am wrong. I'm going to declare my intention. before i have any guarantee of success and that is exactly what the founders did they declared their vision of a nation that did not yet exist when george washington's army was was starving and without enough arms or ammunition after i visited national archives i also visited ford's theater where our 14th president president abraham lincoln was shot a man who believed deeply in the principles found in the declaration of independence and I just finished seeing in that theater 1776, a musical about the Declaration being brought to life, how the divided colonies came together for the notion of a nation that they wanted to build, laying it all on the line in unity achieved through debate and discourse and a belief in what was right. One cannot do something like that without being profoundly, terrifyingly vulnerable. As Brene Brown said, vulnerability is not winning or losing. It's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. The founders

3:33 had no control over the outcome. They were pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to something that could absolutely fail. That vulnerability was not a weakness in the plan. It was the point. Courage without the possibility of loss is not courage. It's just confidence. There's a scene in National Treasure that I think about perhaps more than any other scene in that film. Ben Gates raises a glass and makes a toast, not to victory, not to the treasure, but to high treason. And he says, to high treason. That's what these men were committing when they signed the declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged beheaded drawn and quartered and disemboweled their entrails would have been cut out and burned so here's to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right as an attorney i've spent my career in a system built on the foundation of those that those 56 men created and i will tell you the courage that framework required is not abstract to me i have felt it myself early in my career i as a practicing attorney had the blessing and opportunity to be able to go to court i had my first hearing before a court commissioner in a family law case it's called a temporary orders hearing in a custody case my client was the father he he had a child that was young three

5:04 or four years old that desperately needed protection Now, we had done the work. We had cross -referenced social media posts on MySpace at the time, this is how many years ago this was, with dates that she was supposed to have the child, that she had her parent time nights where she had said things on social media like she was blackout drunk, like she was drunk again, she didn't remember anything that happened. So we had all of our own public admissions on the time that she was supposed to have this child. And yet, having done the work, I was nervous. I had never done a family law court hearing before. And this one carried real weight for a real child that needed real protection. But I prepared. I believed in my training. I believed in the law. I believed in what was right. And I walked in anyway. And thankfully, my client won. He was granted sole physical custody of his child with important restrictions placed on the opposing party. And that child's life was made safer because someone, my client and myself, were willing to show up, be vulnerable in my inexperience and something brand new to my client as well, and try to do what was right. Now, this is what the founders did on a very different scale of course, with high, high personal stakes. James Clear said, every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Every step I took into that courtroom was a vote. Every step Jefferson took toward the quill was a vote. Not just for what he or they wanted to accomplish, but for who they were declaring themselves to be. At

6:36 my firm, one of our core values is simple. Have courage and be kind. It comes from another Disney movie, a favorite of mine, the live -action Cinderella. And while today we are firmly in national treasure territory, I've never been able to separate these ideas. Courage without kindness is recklessness, and kindness without courage is just niceness or politeness. Now, when the founders wrote the document, they had both. They wrote to King George with extraordinary precision and care, even as they were declaring independence from him. The Declaration of Independence is, among many things, a masterpiece of respectful defiance. They named their grievances, they made their case, and then they drew the line. Firm. resolute, unapologetically courageous. That balance is something we have largely lost in public discourse. The Founding Fathers showed us a third path, to be honest, to be clear, to be kind, and be absolutely unwilling to back down from what is right. Here's one of the most important things about the Declaration of Independence that sometimes we forget. When they signed it, They had not won the war. They had not established the country. They had not even survived this summer yet. The declaration was not a report of what had happened. It was a statement of what they believed before the evidence was in. This is the hardest version of courage. Not the courage to say, I told you so after the victory. The courage to declare your conviction before you know whether you will

8:08 win. In National Treasure, there is a moment that captures this perfectly. Ben Gates had already tried to warn the authorities. He had gone through the proper channels because somebody had said they were going to steal the Declaration of Independence. But nobody listened. Nobody believed in him. And nobody was going to. So when someone asks him, why does it have to be you? Why can't someone else handle this? He answers in three simple words. Someone has to. Not because he is the most qualified, not because he has the institutional backing, not because he has a guarantee that it will work. Just because nobody else was going to. And he had decided that was reason enough.

8:52 The founding fathers understood this exactly. Nobody else was going to stand up to the most powerful empire in the world on behalf of a group of colonies that had not proven they could survive on their own. Nobody was going to write that document. Nobody else was going to sign it, except somebody had to. On this 250th anniversary, also poses this question to you personally, in your own life, in your work, your relationships, your community. Where have you been waiting for someone else to go first? Where have you been telling yourself that someone more qualified, more prepared, More certain of the outcome should be the one to step up. Because the founding fathers were not more qualified than you. They were just done waiting. Simon Sinek said, leaders are the ones who have the courage to go first, to put themselves at personal risk, to open the path for others to follow. The founders went first. They put themselves at personal risk. and every generation since has followed the path they opened now your declaration does not have to be a revolution but it should be honest and it should be yours 250 years ago 56 ordinary men did something extraordinary they were not mythical figures they were attorneys

10:25 farmers mechanics and physicians who were by any reasonable measure scared The system they built was not perfect, and they knew that. But they built it to be improved, argued over, and protected by every generation that followed. As an attorney, I do not see the law as simply a set of rules. I see it as a living commitment to the ideals that were declared in that building, in that document, 250 years ago this July. And being here today, I feel the full weight of that commitment. The question is not whether the founders were courageous. History answered that. The question is whether we are. So here are my three recommended actionable takeaways. Number one, read it. Read the Declaration of Independence this week, not as a history assignment, but as a personal one.

11:21 Read the name to the bottom. Let it land that these were real people with real families who risked real lives to give you and I what we have now. It'll take you less than 10 minutes. Do it before July 4th. Takeaway two, name it. Identify one area of your life where you have been playing it safe when courage is actually called for. Write it down. This is your personal declaration. The founders did not win their freedom by simply thinking about it. They named it in ink for the world to see. Takeaway three. declared. Now go one step further. Write down the one specific courageous action you will take to face the thing you just named. Not someday, this week. As Benjamin Franklin said, never put off to tomorrow what you can do today. As you lead this conversation, remember that yes, the past can hurt and you can either run from it or you can learn from it. So here's to learning and finding joy in the journey. See you real soon.