This past month I had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. as part of a grant writing project for a Drug Free grant. While meeting to discuss the Drug Free grant was interesting and enlightening, the true excitement for me came when my wife and I booked a night tour of Washington D.C.  The history/government teacher in me appreciates the history our country has to offer. The next day my wife and I went to the National Archives and Smithsonian of Natural History and American History.  I have been to Washington D.C. before, but I had never been to the monuments at night or to the National Archives.

Stamped throughout many of the monuments and sites are quotes about the people to whom the memorials were dedicated.  We were able to go to my two favorite memorials:  The Jefferson Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.  While it is debatable, I think that these were two of the most influential people in American history.  Other sites we were able to visit were the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Capital, The White House, Iwo Jima, Air Force Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

The underlying theme at many of these sites was simple.  They were men and women of character who were courageous and diligent in their drive to do what was right for a particular cause – to better our country.  In every difficult situation they saw an opportunity.  They saw the need to take action and to take a stand against those who were oppressing them.  They had the foresight to know what the right thing to do was and they took action.  Many of these influential people had the option to turn the tables in the name of what was right and what was fair.  Now, centuries later we are still able to view these magnificent documents and lives based upon the framework these leaders created and changed.

As I relate this to school, each and every day presents an opportunity to make a decision or choice that can positively affect others.  Our fore fathers realized that the best indicator of future results is past performance.  I once had a college professor that said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get the same results.”  Therefore, everyone has the opportunity each day to get better or stay complacent and keep the status quo.  Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others could have chosen to take no action and to let the chips fall where they may in their plight.  Instead, they prepared, anticipated and did not back down.  They were okay with the heavy lifting and understood the mental toughness and resolve it would take to begin a nation, unite a nation, and change a nation.  Above all, they dealt with the ills that were present and chose to take action.