March 2022

You probably have not given much thought to the beauty of the landscape of the grounds of your United States Capitol or such places as Central Park, the Biltmore Estates and the 1873 Chicago Columbian Exhibition and many more. There is one man mainly responsible for designing their beauty.

My encouragement to set a reading goal for yourself for 2022 was pretty simple compared to this serious Pratt group from 1962! The group began four years earlier, yet as they gathered in the Pratt Library in the Fall of 1962 they were still enthusiastic about their self-education course sponsored by the Great Books Foundation. The course was free, and the approach was not to discuss the books themselves at their meetings but rather to let a different reader lead the discussions focused on problems raised by the participating members.

I recently splurged on taking my wife out on a Saturday night. Instead of sitting home and watching reruns, I bought two $5 tickets for the Ritz Theater in Stafford.

Sounds of sirens imprinted in my mind have been replaying over and over lately, and I’m not sure why. It is natural human reaction to run to the door or window and look out to see what is happening when emergency sirens of any kind are within hearing or seeing distance.

It is anyone’s guess how our Constitution will be interpreted these days, whether it be in the halls of Congress, the Oval Office, or in our nation’s court system. However, a tried and true method has been through tradition. Interpretation by tradition does not mean holding to the same decisions made in the past. Instead, it refers to holding onto the foundational questions and historical processes that guided our forefathers’ findings and conclusions. A process that involved conflict through endless discussions and arguments among leaders, both in the halls of Congress and the U. S. court system. What gives life, longevity, and continuity to rightfully interpreting and applying the Constitution is not broad-scale conformity with everyone acquiescing to the previous answers and conclusions; instead, it is agreement about the questions raised throughout the centuries that led to those conclusions (Powell).