Santiago Dreaming
Still an inspiring speech...thanks for getting me to watch it again.
I've been learning a lot of early US history recently as the TV drama "John Adams" is currently on our screens. Fascinating to a Brit, indeed it's lead me to look elsewhere for further information. Even more bizarre to me, however, is that my old school is 100 years older than the US...we celebrated our tri-centenary when I was there whilst you were celebrating your bi-centenary.
I hope all goes well today and that Obama manages to bring at least part of what he promises.
'John Adams' was well done. It is based on the book of the same name by David McCullough. I can recommend anything written by McCullough. His '1776,' about our revolutionary war, is also good.
I know what you mean about our country being so young. Years ago I was sitting in church in Edinburgh when the guide informed us that the first church on that site was built in the ninth century. I felt as if someone had kicked me in the stomach. Up to that point I thought our country was ancient but realized it was still in its infancy.
And I cannot imagine going to a school that was built 300 years ago. Doesn't the weight of all time press down on you when you are there?
Maybe I should put 1776 on my reading list.....before I started watching "John Adams" most of my knowledge of that era came from a bit of reading I did after seeing the musical "1776" on TV in my teens!
Though we always knew the Grammar school was old I don't think the immensity of that really hit home until we got to the tr-centenary and it happened to be at the same time as your bi-centenary. I was always interested in history but not the way it tended to be taught which was so detached at secondary school.
Come to think of it the school I was at for a year before the 300 year old one had even more history as it was based on the site and remains of a Priory with 800 years of history. At least there we felt involved with the history as there was a museum set up by one of the teachers, indeed there still is as my mother was, until recently, one of the volunteer helpers there.
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