Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Mount Vernon, the home of our nation's first president. While there, I visited the tomb of George and Martha Washington. And it just happened to be at the time they were preparing to lay a wreath at the tomb. I have seen them lay wreaths at JFK's tomb and at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but I had no idea they did this at Washington's Tomb. But this was not one of those "once-in-a-great-while" events. They lay a wreath in the tomb of Goerge Washington every day--TWICE each day.
As we honored the man who has become symbolic of our early Republic, I began to think of his accomplishments. At the age of 17, he answered the call of the Governor of the Colony of Virginia to survey the land. Washington left his home and journeyed into the unknown of the Allegheny Mountains. In his 20's, Washington answered the call of the king and defended the colonies against the French in the French and Indian War. Later, he left his home to be Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. And in 1789, he left his home to jouney to New York to be inaugurated as our Republic's first president.
It began to dawn upon me that we know much about the public deeds of Washington, but sometimes we overlook the sacrifices he made for our nation. I realized, once again, that men and women who accomplish great things make great sacrifices of which no one is aware.
What are you doing? What is your motivation? Washington had a vision that was bigger than he. His vision was large and required total commitment. How about you? How large is your vision? How are you impacting the world around you? All of us won't be George Washingtons. But we will never know if we are...until we try.
