Resonating with Washington Crossing the Delaware

  My Experience:

By Ren Carter
Recorded February 6, 2000

The A&E channel was going to have a special movie about George Washington called "The Crossing" January 10th. The holidays were hectic and I forgot all about it. It's not too uncommon for me to forget something, I do it all the time.

It was a Monday morning and just as I arrived at work to drive my UTA bus an old song came on the radio, "Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Hortin. I don't know if I quite remember the lyrics, but it goes something like this: "1814 took a little trip, With Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississippi...." As I sat and listened to it, the thought George Washington, crossed my mind and I looked at my watch--January 10th! Yeah, I was not going to miss the movie tonight. The song kept running through my head all day and I kept thinking about General George Washington. I thought about the Revolution and its struggle. I realized how lucky we are to have been a nation at all. All this thinking about Washington and the Revolutionary struggle was driving me crazy. I knew I had to quit thinking about it, so I did.

I was successful for a time until I pulled up behind a car with a window sticker of the original 13 colonies flag and the saying "We were, so you could be." George Washington popped back up in my thoughts for several more minutes and again I was thinking about the revolution. I resigned myself to thinking about it again. There seemed to be no way to stop my thoughts. Again, I managed to.

After driving for about an hour, I came to the bus stop by the telephone company and picked up one of my regulars, Laprill. She is in her 70's and has trouble getting around so I try to help her out as much as possible. She smiled extra big that day and drew close to me and said, "I give these to those who take care of me." It was a dollar bill folded into the shape of a bow tie with none else than George Washington front and center. I could hardly believe it! It was apparent this was going to be the subject of my thoughts for the remainder of the day and I might as well just accept it.

Upon arriving home from work, my wife already had dinner ready and the popcorn popped for the movie. She had been thinking about it all day, too. She had been trying to set up the VCR to record it all day and had been unsuccessful. We ate hurriedly and got comfortable for the movie with our popcorn.

The movie was inspiring and well done. I felt like I was there beside General Washington. I was proud of his bravery and courage. I was grateful for his dedication not only to his men but to freedom. I was particularly touched by the fact than not one soldier was killed in that action at Trenton. Jeff Daniels did a superb job in portraying the humanity as well as the leadership of George Washington. Daniels in an interview said that the movie changed his life and how he felt about our country. We decided to order the movie from A&E that very night.

During the credits after the movie it talked about what happened to the various characters. I was astounded to discover that General George Washington had died on my birthday, December 14th. A few days later a dollar bill got stuck in my fare box. I kept pushing the button but that dollar bill just stared at me. Finally I got it to work and the dollar bill slipped into the fare box. I rounded the corner and there on a porch railing hung the Washington State flag. The insignia on the flag was my old friend and hero, George Washington. "Oh no I thought to myself. It's happening again!" When I got home that evening there was my copy of the movie, "The Crossing."

I enjoyed telling people on the bus for the next few days what had been happening with George and I. It touched a lot of people and they too remembered how grateful they were for our freedoms. It felt as though General Washington himself was with me, helping me to remind others of the divinely inspired and protected beginnings of this country.

Presidents Day is February 21st this year. We celebrate not only George Washington's birthday, but Abraham Lincoln's. In our hearts and in our minds we reverence and feel gratitude towards these men who gave their all. Lincoln stated that our great land was an experiment to see if democratic self-rule in a free land could be successful. George Washington lit the torch of freedom , Abraham Lincoln ensured its continuance and now the torch is passed to us. It is our duty to continue their legacy of freedom of the people, by the people and for the people.