I've been listening to history lessons on my iPod while I run in the mornings (yes, I'm a bit of a dork, but you should all know that by now). They started in Ancient Greece and we're up to the 1800's. I heard a good one on Washington the other day and I've been thinking a lot about him since. His ragtag group of paid militia were getting ready to head home on the 31st. He had one week. It was dark and snowing and he had to ferry 2,400 troops across the river, which took about 12 hours- until 3am. How do you keep 2400 people in place for 12 hours on a cold, dark Christmas eve? Especially ones who were low on morale (1,700 of their comrades were sick or injured and they'd suffered a series of defeats) and wanting to go home to their families?
For some reason, Washington has fallen out of vogue these days as Lincoln's star is (deservedly) rising. Still, Washington was a great man with a strong moral compass. He had little formal schooling, but had a wisdom and intellect that made up for time in a classroom. The little story about the cherry tree may or may not be true, but it illustrates his lifelong integrity well. He did not want to lead the war against the British (he had been a soldier in the British army himself), and later on he did not want to be president. All he wanted was to live in Mt Vernon with his beloved wife and farm his land. However, he recognized his duty and simply did it.
Washington's public farewell address warned against foreign influence in domestic affairs and American meddling in foreign affairs. He counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but warned against involvement in foreign wars and entering into long-term "entangling" alliances. We could do worse than to revisit his ideals of freedom, personal integrity and diplomacy.
But, mainly, this post is just an excuse to put up that picture. It made me chuckle.
