The dock in front of our rental unit, jutting out into Mahone Bay, is a perfect place to spend a bright Sunday afternoon. I planned on swimming, but the water is too darned frigid for my tastes. But the sun is hot on my face, the beer is cold against my hand, the rough wood of the dock feels warm on my feet, and I can’t help but hear a familiar song in my head.
I wish Otis Redding were here to enjoy the day, too.
In a world of senseless violence, ethnic wars, random kidnappings, and suicide bombings, why get angry about some green paint splashed on a statue — particularly when the paint can be cleaned and the statue returned to its former glory?
But the vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial does make me angry. I hope they catch the twisted person who did this, and I hope they make him pay.
The Lincoln Memorial, like the rest of the National Mall, says a lot about America. Lincoln was one of our greatest Presidents, and one of our greatest Americans, period. His story tells a lot about this country, and his perseverance through the awful bloodshed of the Civil War does, too. Most Americans have seen the Lincoln Memorial, on fifth grade trips to the Nation’s Capital or on family visits there, and it is an awesome temple to the American Idea — noble and grand, humbling and moving, with Lincoln’s careful words carved on the walls and his craggy, wise head looking down upon us. We leave the Lincoln Memorial, and we feel good.
So why in the world would some idiot splash paint on Lincoln’s statue?
And while we are figuring out the answer to that question, let’s also answer this question: how could the vandal do this and get away? I hate to suggest even more surveillance cameras in this country, but the Lincoln Memorial needs to be protected. Now that this pointless act has occurred, we don’t want to give terrorists any ideas.
Nothing acquaints you with a new location quite like watching the sunrise. At Mahone Bay, in Nova Scotia, that means seeing the sun’s golden rays shimmering on the fronts of the buildings on the rim of the bay and reflecting on the bay’s calm waters, hearing the cries of seagulls, and breathing deep the clean, fresh air. Now, it’s time to scare up a cup of coffee.
