THE LETTER G ~ GRAND

GRAND

The DC metropolitan area was my home for nearly 23-years, living in northern Virginia but commuting daily across the Memorial Bridge (pre Metro days) to work downtown.  Our nation's capital city has an abundance of grand and beautiful memorials to the famous, some now infamous, and amazing architecture, yet it was always inspiring to me to view the Lincoln Memorial early morning, and again in the evening, often at sunset on the drive home.  It may be that the Lincoln Memorial, at the West end of the National Mall, facing the Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol has been the site of more events than any other place in the city ~ concerts, demonstrations, political speeches, impromptu gatherings, official ceremonies and more.  

As "grand" as the Lincoln Memorial is, did you know that within all the writings on its walls, there is a spelling error?  In quoting from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, the stone carvers misspelled a word.  Of course, attempts were made to cover up this mistake, but if you search, if you look closely, you will find it. 

Authors observation: in this great city, with all its grand monuments, it's not unusual for those in positions of power (power given by our vote, others by appointment) to try to cover up their missteps.  This is disingenuous at best as these actions were/are not errors of judgement but intentional and self serving.