DC part V

I realize this series of posts on Washington DC is getting long, but it is such a rich place, I've decided to persevere and inflict even more on you, dear reader (all one or so of you -- thanks Kate!).

This was a very full, sweet day in DC for me.  We began at Ford's theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot by a vain-glorious, inconstant actor of dubious southern connection, who had no real reason for doing so.  Having read Team of Rivals, this place becomes so meaningful. Only now do I understand how great this everyman was, and how much the country lost when someone who had sacrificed so much, and guided so ably, was rewarded only by a bullet to the back of his head.  The Park Service does a wonderful thirty minute presentation worth whatever waiting is necessary. It is a detailed, moment by moment account, and I found myself rooting for it to end differently, silly as that might seem.  This working theater has not changed the appearance of the presidential box since that night, out of respect for the man who bore such weight in order to make our country great.

From there we headed down the street to the National Archives, home of an original Declaration of Independence (so faded it is hard to read), and the Constitution.  I had one of the sweeter moments of our trip here, thanks to the Schoolhouse Rock ads of my youth.  We walked past these documents, experiencing the hushed and reverent atmosphere that seems to naturally exist alongside them, and then I found a bench to sit on with my boys, 6 and 8 (Kate was off with her mom looking at the Bill of Rights, I think). I felt a deep need to convey how important these things were, and so recited the preamble from my schoolhouse rock memories:

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution, for the United States of America.

As I recited, I asked them what they understood by key phrases --  more perfect union, justice, domestic tranquility, general welfare, blessings of liberty -- and they attentively responded and listened to my explanations (such was the spirit of this place). It felt so good to tell them that these are the reasons we have government, and how proud I was of my country for establishing these bedrock principles for that government, particularly the blessing of liberty and of being a free people, respectful of one another so that there would be domestic tranquility. The fact that they listened so well, and seemed to sense the importance, made it a very special moment for me.  I hope they will remember what they felt and learned here.

Next up were the American History and Natural History museums, and quite a bit more fun for the kids.  

All of us were blown away by the mineral exhibits -- so many colors and shapes and patterns in natural rock that it is hard to believe.

We were also amazed by the beauty that man can add to these natural materials, as we walked through the cut gems. Here are a few examples:

Thought we were in Oz after those first two . . .

We spent a lot of time with the animal exhibits also, and in a very cool exhibit on archeology. It explained how and what archeologists can determine from bones and other things that they excavate. The exhibit focused on excavations from Jamestown, and was really informative, full of skeletons galore, each of which seemed to have died a different horrible death.  This was by far Kate's favorite part of the Natural History Museum. She spent hours there.

The boys, on the other hand, seemed to most love . . .

The butterflies. The museum had a live exhibit, a controlled space where butterflies of all shapes and colors flew all around you. Keegan, who is already so full of life and spirit, lit up like a a sunrise peaking under cloudy skies. He beamed the whole time he was in there, and wanted to go back as soon as we left.

The American history museum was also full of fun for Kate and the boys, and held another sweet moment for me.

The American History Museum had a great exhibit called "The Price of Freedom," a history of all of the wars we have fought.  Here is Kate with an original George Washington dress uniform.

Original British and American muskets from the Revolutionary War.

The seats in which Grant and Lee sat when negotiating Lee's surrender. I just finished reading a book called April 1865 which really made me appreciate what a battlefield genius Lee was. More importantly, it taught me about how much he did to help end the hostilities, head off a potential guerrilla war by the South, and heal the country after his surrender at Appomattox.  He is under-appreciated, I think, because of the side he fought for.  He shouldn't be.

The instruments of so many deaths in World War I, a war in which my great grandfather was gassed by the Germans at Flander's Fields.

There was a lot of weaponry in the World War II portion of the exhibit. The boys were in heaven.

An Original Army Jeep. 

Flame thrower . . . something about running towards people who are shooting at you while you have 60 pounds of flammable liquids on your back just does not sound appealing.

But for me, taking my kids through the new room they have constructed for the Flag that flew over Ft. McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner was a highlight of the trip.  As you walk back through the hall  to where the Flag is protected from light, there are display panels on Mr. Key, what he was doing, where he was, and exemplars of the rockets that the British used in bombarding the Fort.  I explained to the kids how Washington had been captured, the White House burned, and the British were marching triumphant to capture a very busy and important American port.  Then we sat in front of the Flag, replete with bullet holes and cannon shot.  The only other item in the display, on a wall above the flag, are these words:

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

As I read "our Flag was still there" I choked up, and had a really tough time making it through "home of the brave." Very emotional for me to tell my children about the price of freedom, and how blessed we are by the courage of generations.  

For all its flaws, that is what this place is all about. There is nowhere better to help your children understand what it means to be American.