Our nation did a great disservice by removing his birthday as a national holiday, first by combining it with Lincoln's birthday, and then largely replacing its emphasis with the race-oriented MLK day.
Particularly enjoyable are displays at Mt. Vernon which show the various aspects of his life, such as businessman, President, surveyor, Commander, etc.
The book George Washington: Apostle of Liberty is worth it just for the title.
I believe the unrecorded prayers of George Washington for the USA are still honored by God today, and were a contributing factor to the election of Donald Trump. (Beware of vision of George Washington for America, which is almost certainly a hoax.)
Every elementary class grades 1 to 8 ought have a segment on the life and character traits of George Washington. This would include a thorough study of the 110 Rules of Civility he copied at age 16. This would be a true "common core" of American society.
Thanks for your post.
One of my favorite facts about Washington is that he copied those rules so that he could live by them. Such a noble man.
I agree wholeheartedly. I credit a stupid hand-out sent home by my oldest daughter’s 2nd grade teacher in Berkeley, CA which maligned (in my opinion) the record and character of George Washington. This has to be more than 50 years ago. The paper, which had a picture for my child to color, said (among other negative things) that George Washington was uneducated and couldn’t spell.
The next day was Washington’s Birthday, and the kids were off school so I dragged all 4 down to the book store and bought several books about Washington and a cute little wooden rocking horse depicting Washington astride for the youngest.
The next day, I marched into school to have it out with the teacher. I got nowhere, of course and she smugly dismissed me by saying, “Isn’t it great that it got you to go to a book store.” That set me on a life long course of supporting challengers to school boards and city councils and general political activism.
If you’ve ever visited Mt. Vernon you cannot help but be impressed with Washington’s education, ability, and management style. To say he “couldn’t spell” ignores the fact that there was no standardized spelling in the 1700s.