Washington,
DC
May
12, 2014
The
Washington Monument re-opened this morning in the nation’s capital.
A
most unexpected 5.8 earthquake, centered in Louisa County, Virginia, about 100
miles southwest of Washington, gave the 555 foot-tall unreinforced masonry
structure quite a jolt in late August of 2011. It had recently been
renovated, the stones cleaned and minor cracks repaired. Now the
work had to begin again. A metal framework rose to the top last fall
and came down just a few days ago.
As
the re-opening of a building of this magnitude and significance requires public
ceremony, various military units and appropriate dignitaries were called upon
to display their craft and say a few words in front of a crowd of several
thousand gathered on the grounds southwest of the monument.
The
Armed Forces Color Guard presented the colors at precisely 10 AM. The
fifty flags at the base of the monument fluttered in a steady wind from the
south. The US Navy Ceremonial Band
played the National Anthem. Weather forecast: sunny, warm and humid,
highs in the upper 80s. It must get over 90 to qualify for hot in
this southern city.
As
the Washington Monument is administered ultimately by the Department of the
Interior, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell led the list of dignitaries, followed
by Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service; John Podesta
representing the President; Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and various others
from the agencies that had a hand in the renovation effort, including
philanthropist David Rubenstein, who wrote a personal check for $7.5
million.
Candace
Glover, of American Idol fame, sang “America the Beautiful;” boy and girl
choristers from the National Cathedral sang “My Country’Tis of Thee.
Honor of performing last went to the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps,
clad in scarlet 18th Century coats, buckskin trousers, white
gloves, powdered wigs and tricorner hats, led by an officer in a fur shako who
brandished a wood-shafted pike topped by three gleaming spikes. They
played 18th-Century tunes and displayed superb parade-ground abilities.
Finally each dignitary took a giant pair of shears, made a simultaneous
snip of the red, white and blue ribbon, and the Washington Monument was again
open for business.
The
whole ceremony took a little more than an hour. The purpose of this
and all ceremonies like it is to remind those present that the republic will
endure. The symbol of the nation’s founder will need to be repaired
again. Dignitaries will gather, all different probably, but the
soldiers will present the same colors, bands play the same tunes, singers sing
the same songs. Government of the people, by the people, for the
people, will not perish from the earth.
