"The time has come," the
Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—Of
cabbages—and kings—And why the sea is boiling hot—And whether pigs have
wings."
These words provide a rather
accurate summary of the sort of thought process that seems to exist for most
visitors to the National Mall. There may be sense in there somewhere, but to
all appearances it is entirely free of the confines of logic.
I was at the WWII Memorial today and
encountered many visitors who seemed to be thinking of shoes and ships and
sealing wax, whilst they frolic and play in the water, disrespecting both the
memorial and the men who fought whilst completely and entirely ignoring
the signs right in front of them that clearly inform them that wading in the
pool is prohibited.
As a result of an ATV accident
in another park the director of the Park Service has mandated
that no NPS employee can use any ATV or golf cart without some kind of
special training, which does not actually exist yet, so there is a moratorium
placed on all golf cart usage throughout the NPS system. That makes life
interesting in a place like this, which is very dependent upon golf carts.
Take for example me going out to lead a wall washing crew on Saturday
morning, and needing to transport six buckets, 25 poles and
brushes, two ridiculously long hoses, and spigots from our ranger
station to the Vietnam Wall. Since it is no longer safe for me to use a
golf cart I had to put it all in the back of a truck and drive said truck up
onto the pathways going through the park, dodging visitors, and narrowly
skirting the edge of the constitution gardens pool, in order to get
to the wall. Clearly much safer! Though it is kind of fun to say that I have
driven a truck through the middle of constitution gardens
and the memorial park!
July 4th is around the corner and I
am going to be one of several rangers performing a 30 minute dramatic
"vignette" illustrating the history of the stars and stripes. I will
be portraying a Civil War soldier, telling the story of the assault on Battery Wagner
by the 54th Mass USCT on July 18, 1863 in front of >50,000
people gathered in celebration of our independence. No pressure!
The research I have done on the
history of the flag turned out to be quite useful last Monday, as it was Flag
Day. I joined several other rangers in historical interpretation at the
Washington Monument, illustrating a similar history of the flag. We had no
direction at all so two of my compatriots and I developed a whole interpretive
program on the fly which we proceeded to give to unsuspecting visitors for the
remainder of the day. I knew that 34 star flag I bought at Fredericksburg would
come in handy!
In further celebration of early
American history I traveled down to Jamestown this last Wednesday, the
birthplace of many aspects of America including representative government,
taxes, and mistreating the native people for capitol and financial gain.
It turns out Pocahontas was 10 years old when the Brits first showed up in
1607, most likely did not save John Smith's life at all, and
frequently entertained the British colonists by turning cartwheels around
the center of James Fort with a notable lack of any clothing
whatsoever. Who knew?
I also visited Yorktown, where
Washington and Lafayette successfully trapped Lord Cornwallis with the aid of
the French navy and captured his entire army in the greatest American victory
of the revolution. There is something about such places, ground upon which such
significant events occurred, where people I have read about for years
actually walked, and spoke, and looked upon hundreds of years ago: something
that takes hold of one's sole. I am keenly reminded of the words of Joshua
Chamberlain as he describes the field of Gettysburg...
In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms
change and pass. Bodies disappear. But spirits linger, to consecrate ground as the vision place of souls. And reverent
men and women from afar and generations that know us not and we know not
of, heart drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done
for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and to dream. And lo, the shadow of
a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.
Something of the vision passed into
my souls on those fields. Something transcendent that rises far above the
freedom from logic that sometimes surrounds me. It is good to be reminded of
the value of why I am here, of why these places are so important and the
meaning that lies beneath, above, and around them. That statement of
Chamberlain's is one I memorized to include in my "better angels of our
nature" program, and I liked it so much that it made it into my
program about Petersburg that I did this last Saturday, and will likely make it
into my Little Round Top program on July 2nd and 3rd. Something does indeed
abide.
It is that something that I seek to
bring out in such programs. It is the same something that I strive to find when
leading people on bike tours of the area. I have helped to lead two such tours
the last two Sundays, one about the people of DC and the second about the Union
in crises and the prelude to the Civil War. It still boggles my mind sometimes
that I am getting paid to ride my bike around or dress up as a Union officer and
talk to people about why the Civil War is important! It looks like I am going
to be helping to do another tour this coming Saturday as well.
Life is about to be insane for me
once again. This is my Friday. I have tomorrow off, but then am working as a
"road guard" for setup for the National Symphony Orchestra July
4th concert on Wednesday. I am doing the same thing the following Tuesday
and Wednesday... and the Wednesday after that. Plus on July 2nd
and 3rd, after giving my special Little Round Top program, I am going to
be an "event monitor" from 5:00-11:00 pm and make sure everyone
is where they are supposed to be during the dress rehearsals of said
concert. All told about 45 hours of overtime. Add to that the fact that I
will be working about 20 hours on the 4th of July itself and the fact that
after tomorrow, my only day off before July 13th will be July 6th, and I am
pretty sure I am not going to make it! So this is a good time to let myself by
wrapped in the shadow of a mighty presence and let the power of the vision pass
into my soul.
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