The U.S. Constitution

Today we celebrate a document. A document who is like that one kid in school who everybody knows, but decides not to go to his party for whatever reason. He's in all the lunchroom conversations. He's never looked at, talked to or really, truly, acknowledged though. 

Some people may look at this signature above as just another signature. It's only when you look closer, you realize the letters start to make sense.

In school, I've read about Paul Revere. I have read about Thomas Jefferson. I have read about George Washington. I have read about Samuel Adams. They were all just names to me. Names in a story. 

That changed when I took a trip to Boston, Massachusetts a few years back. 

Here I was, 21 years old (at the time) and I was walking down a road that wasn't fit for a car or a horse and carriage, for that matter, anymore. I look to my left and I see a sign saying Paul Revere's house. 

I now had a name and a location. 

I continue to walk down the old road and I see a church steeple over shadowing some trees. This is the church with the light. I realized at this moment why he was chosen to do the 'British are coming' ride. He lived so close. I had another location. I looked around at what he saw all those years back. 

After walking for a long while I saw a cemetery. That cemetery is where I saw a final resting place. The name written was Paul Revere. 

This guy wasn't a name in some story I've heard all my life. This was an actual guy who actually did something to change history. It was more than voting for the black guy so I could be part of history to elect a black president. Like, this guy actually did something. He actually lived. He actually did exist. 

I know it sounds silly, but when I saw that grave site, everything changed for me. It hit me at a deep level. 

That same feeling resonates with me today. I know that, since he existed, George Washington existed too. I know that James Madison existed too! It's so exciting!

That signature above is from the hand of George Washington. I look at that and I am frozen in its awesome sight. If this document could talk in more ways than it does..

If it had eyes to explain, in detail, what they looked like on that room. If it had ears to explain, in detail, or even just a slight bit, of what it heard when they walked up and grabbed that quill to score on its face. 

I look at this document and I see a perfect document who was designed by men from different backgrounds. But they all understood what the future of being an American meant. The idols and inspirations from all the men came together in it's simplest and complex forms. They created a document of checks and balances. They created a document that would be meant to be a living, breathing document that would stand the test of time. These men were smart. They new human history and how humans worked and realized the methodology of men ruling men and how it progressed. They new a people, United, would fight together to keep this going so they created ways to limit government while at the same time, empowering liberty to we the people. 

On this Constitution Day, read it. There's a constitution app with easy to read typography. There's even helpful historical references. 

Read the notes from the framers themselves. Read the federalist papers. Read the anti-federalist papers. Learn from history because I can tell you, the names that we've read all our lives actually did exist. They lived under the iron fist of tyranny.

They made sure to protect the future generations from such oppression so we would be blessed in not having to feel that fear. 

Thank you again and Happy Constitution Day.