As a native
Baltimorean, it is no surprise that the first memorial I remember having an experience
with was the Washington Monument in Baltimore. I was between the ages of ten
and twelve when I first had contact with the memorial on a school field trip. In
contrast to the structure of the memorial itself, the most notable memory I
have regarding the monument is the way that I interacted with it.
A
requirement of the field trip was to climb all the way up the stairs to the
very top of the monument and to look out the small window which framed the view
of downtown Baltimore. In my twelve-year-old mind I saw this assignment as a
challenge versus my friends to see who could run all the way up the stairs to
the top first. As such, my friends and myself set off up the marble stairs in
front of our fellow classmates. The stairs felt as though they would never end
until we finally made it to the top and beheld the beautiful view.
With our
calves aching we descended the stairs and waited in the vestibule for the rest
of our class to make the same journey up and down at a far more reasonable
pace. Notably, it is not the fact that this memorial was dedicated to George Washington
that I remember. I instead remember the climb and the view but the purpose of
the monument itself was far from my focus. It was the interaction with the
structure itself that remains in my mind to this day.
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