Page 60 - My FlipBook

back to normal. He felt like this obelisk was the most beautiful
thing he had ever seen. His mind grasped the thought and ran
with it. Now he felt that this monolith must be the most
important man-made building, ever, in the history of the world.

It never occurred to him that he may be exactly right and this
would be the last time he would ever have an opportunity to
see it. In just a few short days, it would disappear forever.

Tommy distracted himself from his trauma by going over the
history he knew of George Washington, a lover of dark porter.
He thought of Valley Forge and of battles with the British. He
imagined George's great disappointment in his friend Benedict
Arnold, an ale drinker, and of wins against Cornwall and

insurmountable odds. He imagined the scene where
Washington resigned his commission and surrendered his
sword to Congress. He remembered Normand "Trash" Trailer in
High School giving a report about the event and saying:

"The resignation by George Washington of his Commission in
the Continental Army is the defining moment in Modern

History. For the first time, someone who could have had
unlimited power rejected that power in order to give self-
determination to a peoples, whether they were worthy or not.
There is not a more noble gesture in history. It is a tragedy, a
calamity, that this event is not taught to school children as the
pivotal moment in the history of America and perhaps the
world."

50 BeerQuest