My parents did a few things right. They took us to church, made sure we did our homework, and never ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. We also thrived on our "educational vacations,' which were frequently in June, right after school ended. And before baseball tournaments.
I was not in school yet when this video captured our trip to the nation's capital. But I'll always remember the mighty shadow of how large Mr. Jefferson loomed over us. If there are still a few things about his hometown that I ascribe to, it would be his definition of liberty. Long may it wave.
"The God who gave us life gave us liberty."
Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C. National Park Service.
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."
Inscription of Panel 3 Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.