Sharing the Wealth

Remember the scene in National Treasure when Ben Gates tells the FBI guy that he’s found a treasure worth billions of dollars, that it belongs to the people of the world, and it should be shared with all of them? He says they need to spread it out among the world’s major museums – the Smithsonian, the Louvre, etc. I love that, and after my recent experience in Washington D.C. and New York, I feel that I’ve experienced it.

This is a photograph of the room in which President Lincoln died after he was shot in Ford’s Theater. It’s a fascinating walk-through tour, the Petersen House, as you visit this room and the one in which Mrs. Lincoln waited for the news of her husband’s death, what she probably hoped would be the news of his recovery. And while I was there, I remembered that I wasn’t looking at the actual bed on which he died.

My sister had recently been to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Missouri, and I knew the bed from the Petersen House actually rested there. Sure enough, literature I found (or perhaps it was our guide) told me that was correct. Then at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum I stood in front of Abraham Lincoln’s top hat. And I loved to see that people all around the country can see artifacts from the life of this fascinating man.

And speaking of a guide, get one. I was fascinated by our guide the first day and the way he could point out interesting connections to the things we were seeing and things we might be familiar with elsewhere. (Example: While standing at The Awakening, a five-piece sculpture of a giant at the National Harbor, our guide talked to us about its creator, a man named John Seward who is also known for his bronze replicas of the famous end-of-the-war photograph with the soldier kissing the nurse. He is also the son of the Johnson & Johnson legacy). These are the kind of things you’ll never forget, the things that connect us.

Another beautiful moment for me happened on my tour of the Tommy Hilfiger offices in New York City. Having just come from Washington D.C., we immediately recognized a model of The National Mall in the office’s entry. We soon learned this was a model of the proposed Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, largely funded by Hilfiger, that will be placed between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument – the very place the audience stood when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech, I have a Dream. Only days before, I had stood on the Lincoln Memorial in front of the inscription that states simply “I HAVE A DREAM / MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. / THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM / AUGUST 28, 1963. I was extremely moved to have stood on that small inscription and to now see a beautiful, expanded memorial in the works. Instant connection.

On my recent visit to the places most popular for DC and New York City educational tours, I felt so grateful to the men and women throughout history who had the foresight to see me coming. And not just me, of course. But you and our grandparents and our children. These wonderful historians had the foresight to set aside the artifacts of our history, to preserve them for future generations, and to share them far and wide. I was so glad they did.

Related posts:

1. Two Cities Perfect for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
2. The National Mall
3. A Fountain and a Memorial in Washington D.C.
4. The Memorials Illuminated
5. Don’t Miss the Details