Paving the Way For America

Paving the Way For America

10-10-10

There isn’t a state we’ve traveled through that hasn’t had road construction somewhere.  Sometimes it’s everywhere.  As near as  I can tell each of these states, whether their representatives voted for it or not, have taken their share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment money.  Road repairs that seem necessary, roundabouts that seem intended to divert traffic that isn’t there, big bridges and small repair crews, we’ve seen them all.  Washington state has  paved and paved all the way along I-5 in a way that seems contrary to human nature when compared to the pastoral and rural pace of this part of the country.   At home, instant neighborhoods appear overnight – ‘little boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.’  (Malvina Reynolds) or at least every fifth one looks the same.  The areas we’ve seem may be the exception, except that what we’ve seen has been consistent throughout the northwest.  There’s a simple and traditional construction of the homes here that breathes a sense of serenity.  Small churches with high rising steeples show up frequently.  Whether in the city or along the side roads there are many of them.  Each seems to have a graveyard for the faithful.  Granite monuments give testimony to those who have gone before.  Inscriptions carved long ago are now illegible, weathered by wind and rain and snow.  Flowers, flags and markers say that these forefathers have not been forgotten.  These old graveyards, for me, tell the story of our country’s founders, a people who held together during times of great unrest to build this nation. They speak of permanence and continuity and community.

Before the American Revolution and during the Revolutionary War there were arguments between Vermont and New York over land grants. The courts sided against Vermont.  This led to a series of negotiations between Vermont and the British for Vermont to become part of Canada.  Once the Revolutionary War was clearly underway Vermont joined the war.  One of the more famous men to contribute to this war was Ethan Allen and his well known Green Mountain Boys.  The issue of possible succession to Canada was not resolved until the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.  Vermont became the 14^th state to join the union with a motto of Unity and Freedom.  Because of their efforts to secede some doubted their allegiance to the union. 

Montpelier:  The Reluctant Capitol

When the Civil War began Vermont joined the Union Army.  They had long opposed slavery.  They sent troops thinking the war would soon be over. Ultimately they spent over 10 million dollars in this cause for unity and freedom.

Traveling along these quiet roads we pass a field of small white flags divided into two groups joined by a small bridge of flags.  It is signed as a memorial to American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We are a nation of many ideas and many voices – all free.