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CPT Jack Durish
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I share the same birthday with George Washington (not the same year, you funny guys) and was raised with all the mythology surrounding him. Yes, my early birthday cakes were festooned with cherries. The first time I saw the Potomac River from the Maryland side where I lived, I wondered if it wasn't as wide from the Virginia side. No one was going to throw anything across that. Obviously, it was a myth, and so were all the other stories that I was told in school. I began to wonder about Washington. Who was this person, really, and why were so many myths told about him. That launched my lifelong fascination with history. The real person I discovered was far more fascinating that the one being taught. For that matter, so were all the other "demigods" known as the Founders. Ultimately, I came to realize that by creating supermen of these otherwise ordinary people, we were excusing ourselves from emulating them. How could we be expected to be like them. Today, they are vilified so that our children wouldn't want to be like them. The bottom line is that they were neither gods nor devils, just ordinary people like the rest of us, and worthy role models for those who would live as free men and women.
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SGT English/Language Arts Teacher
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CPT Jack Durish Well said, Jack. We can have heroes to emulate, but that does not mean we have to emulate their bad qualities.
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SPC Margaret Higgins
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Edited 6 y ago
WOW! I did not know that the late President George Washington was the most celebrated person in American history. I always knew the late President Washington was one of our best Presidents ever. SGT (Join to see)
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PVT Mark Zehner
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Great article thank you!
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