Lent: Celebrate

Like many other children her age, Middle Daughter has a thing for Alexander Hamilton.

Her celebration of all things Hamilton began a little more than two Christmases ago, when it was not yet clear that the musical on Broadway, while definitely A Thing, was going to be the juggernaut it since has become. She began singing "You'll Be Back" during car trips where once she had sung "Popular," and began displaying an unexpected familiarity with the Founding Fathers and early American history.

Lacking tickets to the show, Middle Daughter has embarked upon pilgrimages to sites sacred to the memory of Hamilton. Last summer, she celebrated his life at the Hamilton-Schuyler house in Morristown, N.J. Today we were in New York for an acting callback, so we built in extra time to ride the subway to Wall Street and visit his grave in the Trinity Church Cemetery.

It was barely 11 a.m. when we arrived to pay our respects. Pilgrims were out in full force. Hamilton's grave, as well as the graves of his wife, Eliza, and their son Philip, were adorned with flags and other patriotic trinkets, as well as votive offerings of money, in coins and bills of all denominations.

For my daughter, the visit alone was cause for celebration, as it is another place that she has been able to cross paths with one of her heroes. A man who gave so many years and such a legacy of wisdom and guidance to his adopted country is worth celebrating. I only pray that in remembering his life, and his accomplishments, that we also glean some of his wisdom for the days that lie ahead of us.



Copyright © 2017 by David Learn. Used with permission.


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