What If the Greatest Chapter of Our Lives is Now?

I welcome the sunrise and embrace this chapter of my life as part of my ineluctable mission - to help sustain our National Parks.

Happiest day, beloved Joy Train Rider! I love you. Bless you. I affirm that we’re doing well.

Having our beloved daughter visit and spend the past two weeks with us put the cherry on top for Father’s Day. We went for walks, walked to market, cooked, watched movies, went leisurely sightseeing and generally just relaxed and enjoyed each other. As she prepared to leave this morning she said something that’s ringing in my ears:

“I can’t believe how few packaged things we ate.”

It’s a great benefit of being in Jamaica that most of our food is fresh and comes in its own skin.

I hope all fathers and all who father enjoyed a wonderful day celebrating and being celebrated. There’s hardly anything better I can think of than spending time with family that you love, that loves you back.

I’m learning that there are spiritual traditions that believe every soul currently incarnated chose to be here at this very time to make a specific contribution to the direction in which humanity evolves. As a 74-year old person I can definitely say that this point is the “after” to a much more desirable “before” I’ve experienced. If I’m here for a purpose I believe it must be to uphold the Truth of a more natural way of living than the dystopia of today. The plight of the National Park System in the past compared to today makes me see the difference I can make, very clearly. Will and Jim Pattiz at “More than Just Parks” give us an encouraging boost and mission focus in A Hundred Calls Is All It Takes.

The plight of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial is the plainest metaphor for truth vs untruth that the Universe could send us: A swamp has been made of our beloved icon right in front of our faces by the very people who campaigned on “draining the swamp.” Then they tell us not to believe our own eyes.

So how refreshing is it to be able to point to the admirable President behind the central structure on the National Mall, the Washington National Monument.

The massive tribute to our first President provides a stark contrast to the President then and now, includes the effects of a “Know Nothing Party,” and conveys a sense of respect for our monuments and institutions that we urgently need to recapture.

When completed in 1884 it was the tallest building in the world at 555 feet, 5-1/8 inches.

Ever since I learned that you can ride up to the top I’ve been longing to take that trip. The elevator takes 70 seconds to the Observation Deck from which we get a spectacular view of the Capital City.

According to the National Park Service,

“First in War, First in Peace, and First in the hearts of his countrymen, George Washington’s military and political leadership were indispensable to the founding of the United States. As commander of the Continental Army, he rallied Americans from thirteen divergent states and outlasted Britain’s superior military force. As the first president, Washington’s superb leadership set the standard for each president that has succeeded him.

I have so much love for our Monuments on the National Mall, I’m overjoyed with this stop to see the Washington Monument in 2009.