|
|
|
In theNational Museum of Natural History |
Going from the rolling countryside of rural central
Pennsylvania to the busy streets of Washington, D.C. was quite
an exciting thing for the students of St. Louis de Montfort
Academy. Little did they know just how much history they would
be seeing during their field trip. On the feast of our patron
saint, April 28, the students visited the Supreme Court and
the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Approaching the impressive neo-classical Supreme
Court building, the students had to weave through placard-bearing
protesters, policemen and reporters. That day the Court was
hearing the oral arguments for Rumsfeld v. Padilla
and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, cases involving the detaining
of American citizens as enemy combatants in the war on terrorism.
After setting off metal detectors with their rosaries or candy
money, the students quietly made their way into the back of
the courtroom. Before them sat the nine justices of the highest
court of the land. It was impressive to listen to the lawyers
as well as to the justices, who would interrupt them with questions,
often pointed and difficult to answer. The chamber was packed
with spectators that included some senators. The students were
also gravely awed by the fact that they were sitting in the
very room where the infamous Roe v. Wade decision was
argued. The boys were roused from their reflections when Chief
Justice Rehnquist slammed the gavel down adjourning the Court.
Moving away from political history, but unable
to get away from the ubiquitous metal detectors, the students
went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The students admired God’s creation in the form of animals
and minerals. They looked up in silent amazement at the bare
teeth and skeletons of dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“I wouldn’t want to meet one of those in the woods,”
one would say. “At least not without a very big dinosaur
gun.” Much less fearsome was the awesome gem collection.
They must have had every precious metal and mineral known to
man displayed there. Combining “natural” history
and human history, the boys admired the dazzling diamond earrings
that once belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of France. They
also saw such famous historic jewelry as the “Hope Diamond”
and the diadem of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, second
wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
|
The diadem of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria |
As the boys learned during this field trip to
the nation’s capitol, history and nature are often inseparable.
From the impressive stone of the Supreme Court building wherein
historic decisions, famous and infamous, are made, to dazzling
yet fateful diamonds, inanimate materials seem to come to life.
Even the metal detectors, though hardly natural, were reminders
of historic events. Next time, however, it would be best to
leave the candy money in the piggy banks.
