The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The inscription behind the statue of George Washington and the eternal flame: “Freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness in unmarked graves.” -News Photo
by Kay Schten McAdam, Editor
“Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!” Eliza Doolittle proclaims to Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady. She’s irritated because all he does is talk. . .
Talk. Talk. Talk.
Words. Words. Words.
Eliza goes on to sing, “Never do I ever want to hear another word. There isn’t one I haven’t heard. Here we are together in what ought to be a dream; Say one more word and I’ll scream!”
And ‘tis the [political] season for words, isn’t it? And we get a lot of words every day. . .
Former Forbes Councils Member Jon Simpson reports that “Digital marketing experts estimate that most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day.”
According to statista.com, Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day—that works out to more than 3,200 texts per month—and the typical or median cell owner in this age group sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1500 messages per month).
But wait there’s more. . .
As of April 18, 2024, the United States was the country with the highest number of emails sent daily, with almost ten billion . . . Every minute, 240 million e-mails are exchanged among global users, approximately five times more than the number of instant messages exchanged during the same time at the end of 2023.(statista.com)
That there is a lot of words. . .
Have we, as consumers, become immune to words? Are we truly listening to the messages contained within those words?
As promised in the past two editions of The News, Ye Olde Editor actually did go on assignment the week of October 20. Destination: the birthplace of the United States of America, Philadelphia, PA.
Words matter in Philadelphia, specifically three small words:
We the People. . .
Three words that define a nation followed by
of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Do the words above still have meaning? Do they resonant with we the people? Or have they become just words?
The National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, is full of a lot of words. The Center’s mission is to bring “together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution.”
The Center was the site of the most recent Presidential debate on September 11, 2024.
For this tourist, the words found in the First Amendment Gallery were a fleetingly comforting reminder of the importance of the five freedoms found in one amendment: Americans may freely exercise religion, speak, write, assemble, and petition the government.
As the Gallery reminds us, “the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the core value of a free press: the right to criticize the government and check abuses of power.” But, consider this, technological advances such as the Internet raises the question, who is – and is not – the press?
Have you had enough words for the moment? Perhaps a sightseeing side trip will be a well-earned diversion after so many words. . .
Washington’s War Tent, above, at the Museum of the American Revolution, 101 South Third Street (amrevmuseum.org). The exhibit, Witness to Revolution: The Unlikely Travels of Washington’s Tent, now through January 5, tells the decades long journey of the General’s field tent beginning in 1783 when Washington decided to leave the “tented field.”
Maxfield Parrish’s Dream Garden mosaic was created with Tiffany Studios in 1915 and housed in the Curtis Publishing Company building, 170 S Independence Mall West. Curtis Publishing published such well-known magazines as Ladies’ Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Jack & Jill, and Country Gentleman.
Elfreth’s Alley, located in Philly’s Old City, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the country. The Alley dates back to 1703 and is an exceptional collection of early American structures built between 1720 and 1836.
Then there’s the 1765 Powel House, Reading Terminal Market, The Magic Garden, Christ Church, The Arch Street Quaker Meeting House, Carpenters’ Hall, site of the First Continental Congress, and we’re back at the National Constitution Center to take a stroll through Signers’ Hall, a collection of 42 life-sized, bronze statues of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention held in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) between May and September 17, 1787, the date 39 of the delegates signed the Constitution.
It took 50 artists from Studio EIS in Brooklyn, NY, almost two and a half years to make the statues. “Each one is based on extensive historical research, which included all known physical descriptions of the delegates and even measurements of their clothing. Actors with the same body types posed in costume to make the molds, while sculptors shaped clay busts from portraits made during their lifetimes to make each statue as accurate as possible; Jacob Broom of Delaware is the only signer for whom no contemporary portrait exists.”
And now some final words to contemplate.
During the three months the delegates hashed out the details of the Constitution in 1787, George Washington occupied a mahogany Rising Sun chair crafted by John Folwell. After much debate and subsequent signing of the document that gave birth to the United States, Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said, I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I… know that it is a rising…sun.
Would he say the same today?
Historian Mitchell Kramer as Ben Franklin
-News Photo
Republics come and Republics go. Rome fell after about 500 years. The US is hanging in there at 235 years. The Constitution was signed in 1787, ratified in 1788, and went into effect in 1789. So far, it’s the world’s longest surviving written charter of government.
Will we, can we, should we surpass the longevity of the Roman Republic?
The answer, if there is one upon which we can agree, is up to us. . . We the People.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.– (Declaration of Independence)
For more about the National Constition Center, visit constitutioncenter.org
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