I can get enough of this city. Every day brings adventures, new sights, new sounds, new crazy people to watch, and so much more.
When the weather is nice (and when I say nice I mean not raining and not stifling hot and 100 degrees) I try to take advantage of every second and see all I can.
The Lincoln Memorial was one that made a strong impression on me when I came to DC as a high school student. I remember my teacher and high school mentor Mr. Miner teaching us that while so many people want to take God out of everything, they would have to tear down every single monument in DC if they wanted to eliminate God. That’s because so many of the quotes and memorials contain inspiring messages to Him, about Him, and for Him. On the marble walls of the Lincoln are etched these words:
With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
It gives me shivers.
Abraham Lincoln has always been an icon of justice, humility, and strength in my eyes. He represents freedom…..and freedom is what we celebrate in DC. I think it appropriate that Mr. Lincoln has a giant memorial where he sits in his chair overlooking the mall and ensuring that freedom is preserved. Just above his head it says:
In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.
I love it. Abe will always be one of my heroes.
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