Marking A Nation’s History

July Fourth of the year, 1946, marked the one hundred and seventieth anniversary of the independence of the United States. Only thirty years from that date we will celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of this Republic. It is not too soon, today, to prepare a suitable memorial for that bicentennial event, or to reflect upon what form that memorial should take. Three decades hence—as is already the case now— the United States will be one of the oldest, if not the oldest country whose basic form of government, whose unceasing march toward goals of freedom and happiness, will have remained essentially unchanged since its founding.

Such a national persistence in the face of all obstacles is both a tribute to the wisdom and foresight of the founding fathers, and to the contribution of all persons, important and obscure, who have done their part in the years that have passed. The significance of the bicentennial will be further increased by the probable position of the United States in world affairs. Every evidence points to a constantly rising place. This country's influence may well be paramount; its power for good may be beyond our fondest dreams. As the time for the two-hundredth anniversary approaches, there will undoubtedly be increasing interest in a memorial with which to mark so momentous an event. For our greatest men we have erected all sorts of monuments and buildings. For one man such a memorial may well be enough. Yet even our greatest cannot approach in importance the nation itself, and all the people who have lived, do live, and will live in it.

No building, no temple, no tower, however inspired, however beautiful or grand, could possibly equal, or even adequately express, the significance of the occasion. There is, indeed, only one physical memorial that could possibly measure up to the grandeur and solemn significance of the event. This is represented by the physical country itself; its mountains, forests, rivers and lakes; its animals and plants; its parks and wilderness; everything else that makes up and adorns this land of ours. It will be said that all these things exist now. It will be asked how, then, they may be made into a memorial. Of course they exist, but only in such condition as decades of waste and misuse have left them.

One has only to look about to see mountains disfigured; forests slashed and never restored; streams, lakes and harbors filthy with pollution; wild flowers and wild animals fewer, with some species gone forever; highways lined with disfiguring billboards, roadside slums, auto graveyards and dumps; many towns and cities ugly and run-down. Physical America today is certainly no satisfactory memorial to our country.

By: davidbunch

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