Living just outside of Washington, D.C. can have its advantages. This week Clare memorized a portion of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address for school. To inspire her, I told her that we would visit the Lincoln Memorial Friday evening if she recited the address for her teacher that day. The Second Inaugural Address is carved on one of the walls of the Memorial.
The best time to see the memorials in D.C. is at night. They are beautiful when lit up. I've been wanting to take the girls on a tour of all the memorials, but it was too hot in the summer to enjoy them. This night was perfect. The temperature was around 70. We left just before sunset and the breeze was just picking up. Someone was taking advantage of that breeze by flying a rather unusual kite near the Washington Monument. As we drove near the National Mall, Anne yelled, "There's a dementor." Indeed, it did look like these creatures from the Harry Potter universe that suck all hope out of those near them had taken over the Nation's Capital.
The best time to see the memorials in D.C. is at night. They are beautiful when lit up. I've been wanting to take the girls on a tour of all the memorials, but it was too hot in the summer to enjoy them. This night was perfect. The temperature was around 70. We left just before sunset and the breeze was just picking up. Someone was taking advantage of that breeze by flying a rather unusual kite near the Washington Monument. As we drove near the National Mall, Anne yelled, "There's a dementor." Indeed, it did look like these creatures from the Harry Potter universe that suck all hope out of those near them had taken over the Nation's Capital.
I am happy to say we must have had our Patronuses in working order, because we made it passed the dementor, found a parking place and walked to the Lincoln Memorial.
Rather than going to the large statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair, Clare walked directly to the Second Inaugural Address and found the words she had memorized. It truly is a beautiful speech. The night before she had practiced the speech while we walked our dog and we talked about the meaning of the words. It is striking to think of the Civil War as a punishment for the sin of slavery. Lincoln reflects that God may will that "every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword."
Rather than going to the large statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair, Clare walked directly to the Second Inaugural Address and found the words she had memorized. It truly is a beautiful speech. The night before she had practiced the speech while we walked our dog and we talked about the meaning of the words. It is striking to think of the Civil War as a punishment for the sin of slavery. Lincoln reflects that God may will that "every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword."
Because the night was so beautiful, the girls were eager to visit the memorials on either side of the Lincoln Memorial. We first went to the Korean War Memorial. The sun had completely set as we walked to the Korean Memorial so I warned the girls that the statues of the soldiers can be surprisingly realistic--especially at night. The smile on Meg's face below is the moment she realized how realistic they do seem. Clare's first comment was it looked like the White Witch's garden in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Anne thought the statue's looked like the chessmen in the wizard's chess game at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. After we had been at the memorial for a few minutes, Clare said, "You can tell the personality of each soldier." We talked about what makes great art. The design of this memorial is moving to the observer because each soldier appears as an individual. They are not faceless, uniform soldiers. These are men we care about.
Our conversation about the power of art continued as we stopped by the Reflecting Pool. To prepare the girls for the Vietnam Memorial, I told them that many had objected to the design of the memorial initially because they didn't believe it was special enough. However, once it was built, many of those people changed their minds. I then waited to see the girls' reaction to the Vietnam Memorial. As the number of names grew, Clare simply asked, "This many people died?" She then began to cry. A few minutes later we met a Vietnam Veteran, who explained the way the names were listed on the memorial. He showed us a more recently added name of a man who was one of the first men to die in Vietnam. The man's son died in Vietnam 9 years later. The names of both father and son appear on the memorial.
It was a memorable night for us. As we drove home, we somberly found ourselves debating war. Meg and Clare firmly believed it was wrong for so many people to have to die. Anne said that war was necessary for nations to be created. Yes, Anne is only 5-years-old and I didn't realize she had been studying nation building in her spare time. It definitely triggered a lot of thought in us all.
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