I apologize for taking so long to share my thoughts with you regarding the Restoring Honor event in Washington D.C.  It has taken me several days to figure out a way to put words to the powerful emotions that we experienced at an event that proved to be an incredible reflection of America's founding principles.

Deciding to Go There

I have known for almost two years now that the election cycle of 2010 was going to be an incredible experience because I saw such a radical shift in our nation’s policy that I knew the common sense people of our country would finally rise up to demand to be heard.  I knew that they would because if they did not then our nation would dive head first into the worst big government nightmare in our history.  To some extent we have already gone too far down that road but I just KNEW the American people wouldn’t let that happen without a fight.  That's why I was so excited to see the Tea Party movement come into being.  We have a long history in America.  We have made many mistakes in the past but we always work hard to correct them and learn from our mistakes so the generations that follow will know better.

I also knew that when average American citizens rose up they would be disappointed to learn that many in government had become so corrupt that most politicians no longer care what the people want.  That’s why it is so rare to find incumbants with a servant’s attitude these days.  Remember all the town halls and people like Ron Kind telling us that "half the calls to his office said no and the other half said HELL no" but they went along with the big government plans anyway?  Most political types only care about their own quest for power in whatever form it may take.  Some crave an elite status among their peers.  Others want to control and drive public policy.  Still others merely want to get rich.  Whatever the reasons for their corruption the truth remains that they are flawed human beings and that elections have consequences.

These ideas have been building not only within myself but all across the nation and Glenn Beck finally provided us with a date, time, and venue for all of us to come together and begin the process of restoring honor.  First within ourselves and next in our government institutions.  Two weeks before the event we booked seats on a bus coming out of the Twin Cities.  The bus was organized by a Tea Party group in Minneapolis so I found the appropriate contact information and gave them a call.  After paying for our seats we changed our minds and decided to leave a day earlier so we could take more time to do some site seeing with the kids.  We asked for half our money back, donated the other half to helping any high school or college-aged Patriots who needed a seat, then plotted our course using Google Maps.

Getting There

The drive to Washington D.C. was remarkable.  I have never been on the roads east of Ohio so driving through Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia was new to all of us.  It was really neat to see the countryside and learn a little more about this great land by simply seeing it for ourselves.

I know someone out there (probably my Mom) is wondering why on Earth we would make the crazy, last-minute decision to drive to our nation’s capitol to participate in an event where the organizer was withholding all the pertinent details about what was going to take place?

Good question.  This entire event has been a spiritual one.  That’s about the only way I can describe it that makes any sense to me.  It was a combination of the Holy Spirit and the American spirit (could they be one and the same?) working in our lives.  We just felt like we HAD to be there for this moment in our nation’s history so we made the necessary arrangements and went.  Believe me, we looked for every excuse NOT to go but everything just fell into place to make it possible so we simply followed along the path that was set before us.

Being There

We arrived at our hotel near Dulles in the early evening and then decided that we would do some site seeing to see the monuments at night.  We drove to Arlington where we hopped aboard the metro and headed for D.C.  This part alone was quite an adventure for the kids.  It was their first time in a subway station so Amanda was a little scared and clung to my neck for most of the way to D.C.

When we arrived at the Smithsonian metro stop and began to ride the escalator up I said, "Be prepared to be amazed."  I watched the priceless looks of amazement on their faces as they saw the capitol dome, the Smithsonian castle, and the Washington Monument.

From there we walked over to the American History Museum but found out that they had already closed for the day.  Then we walked to the National Archives hoping to take a look at our founding documents but they too were closed for the day.  A little disappointed, we headed toward the Lincoln Memorial which we knew was never closed and passed by the Washington Monument, the White House, and the World War II Memorial along the way.  By the time we reached the World War II Memorial we realized that there was already a large crowd beginning to form for the Restoring Honor event which was still about 12 hours away.

People were already staking their claim to good spots along the Reflecting Pool right in front of where the stage was being setup.  There had to be about 10,000 people in good cheer there and they were singing songs and yelling “Marco, Polo” back and forth and generally having a good time.

At the foot of the Lincoln Memorial Diane and Amanda chose to rest while me and Mitchell went up to see one of our greatest presidents.  Part way up the steps is an engraving to commemorate Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech.  I was amazed to see a bouquet of flowers placed next to the engraving.  That it was there wasn't the amazing part.  What was amazing to me was that of the thousands of people who passed by it not a single person disrespected the display by removing those flowers.  Let that be a lesson to the liberal pundits and journalists who call conservatives racist hate mongers.  We have a deep respect for the history of our nation and MLK is one of the beacons in our past that can help us find our way in the future if only we will listen.  I have no way of knowing who placed those flowers there or when but that simple yet powerful display of respect for Martin Luther King was remarkable to me and several others who gathered nearby to get a photo of it.
  
When me and Mitchell found our way to the foot of Lincoln's statue there was a very large crowd there with us.  Hundreds of people were walking around taking in the history and we made our way to the wall with the Gettysburg Address.  Everyone there was very respectful and quiet in honor of our first Republican president and the man who freed the slaves and led our nation back from the brink of destruction. It was difficult to get a good photo with so many people there but some very generous folks from Texas helped us out. Everyone we met throughout the entire weekend was incredibly caring and helpful.

The Event

I hope you had a chance to review some of the coverage of the Restoring Honor rally.  There are some spectacular photos and videos out there showing what an incredible event it was.  We got up at about 5am and made our way to the Ballston metro station which opened at 7am.  By the time we got there a couple hundred others were already waiting in line.  Thankfully we purchased our metro passes ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in line and we sailed right through the gate and down to the tunnel.  We waited about 15-minutes for the first train of the day only to find it to be totally packed.  Several minutes later the second one stopped and it too was jam packed with no room for additional people.  By this time I began to wonder if we would get on at all so I got my camera ready for the third train of the day and, sure enough, it too was packed with people going to the event.  I used my phone to check Twitter and found out that the four metro stations ahead of ours on the orange line still had football-field-long lines of people to get on so after five jam packed metro trains came and went we gave up and decided to take a cab.

When we got to the Lincoln Memorial we soon discovered that there was no way we were going to find a spot to sit where we could both see and hear the people on stage.  We found a nice spot in between the trees about half way down the North side of the Reflecting Pool where a speaker system was setup so that we could at least hear the speeches.  If anyone has a recording of the event from C-SPAN I would love to borrow it because we didn't get to see any of the speeches.

Miracles are Real

About 5 minutes before the event started I went for a walk to find some water for the kids and while I was walking among the trees at about 1-minute before the program started I heard a great wave of applause that started at the East end of the Reflecting Pool (near the World War II Memorial) and making its way in my direction.  I looked past the trees to see a flight of geese flying in formation above the water centered between the vast crowd and heading toward the stage where they turned and climbed up and over the trees.  It was the most remarkable flyover at an event that I have ever witnessed and it raised the spirits of the crowd even more.  What an amazing display!  I highly encourage you to check out the video that one of the participants took.

As I mentioned earlier the event was very spiritual in nature.  The program started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner and the overriding message was a positive encouragement to restore honor within ourselves by turning our hearts and minds back to God and the founding principles.  Mentioned in the various speeches were inspiring stories of men and women of honor and how their efforts are making a positive difference in the nation.  My favorite references were about the founding of our nation.  Multiple references were made to the Declaration of Independence and Glenn especially focused much of his message on the closing words of that document: “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”