I love mythology, all mythology. It teaches about culture and belief. I especially love American mythology. I believe in it. I have drunk the Kool-Aid. Even things that I know to be historically untrue, I believe. I believe that George Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree.
Most years we spend July 4 in the States. It's a good time to travel and is close enough to Canada Day so there are fewer vacation days we need to take.
This year we headed to Shenandoah National Park (http://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm) with my in-laws. We copped out and glamped (glamour camping), staying in the lodge. National Parks are wonderful. If you ever have a chance to visit a US national park, DO. Make a point to go to the ranger programs. They are usually phenomenal.
Shenandoah was the summer retreat of President Hoover. It is beautiful. It is also close to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. I'm a big Jefferson fan. We spent a day there, following it up with a trip to the Jefferson Memorial. On Jefferson's headstone he requested that three things be listed as his accomplishments- author of the Declaration of Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the university of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson had a thirst for knowledge. He loved books; a famous quote is simply "I cannot live without books.". And he respected humanity. The statue of him standing like Apollo in his memorial is fitting. He is one of my heroes.
Thomas Jefferson hated prejudice. He hated slavery, yet he had hundreds of slaves. Turns out he was fearful that if freed, slaves would rise up and kill their masters. At his death he freed only five. It was the same argument as Pharoah's. It saddens me to realize this, yet when I think of him I am still in awe. He is my hero, but I also know that he was human. He can embody the man and the myth, and I can believe in them both.
Favorite quotes:
"Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
"The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance."
"Information is the currency of democracy."
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. "
"We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."
On this trip south we also visited the home of President Washington, Mount Vernon. It is welcoming, warm and cozy. George Washington also kept slaves, freeing them at his death. He also set most precedents for how the US president acts today, from creating a cabinet, to the president's power to veto, to a two term maximum, and more.
My children are now hoping for a trip to Quincy, home of John Adams, second US president. I am also a huge Adams fan, of him and his wife. In writing to her husband as he served the continental congress she wrote:
"Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could."
and
"...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."
One more historical and patriotic note- When the British were about to attack Connecticut, sixteen year old Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles spreading the alarm, a longer ride than Paul Revere, but she didn't get a poem by Longfellow.
