This past week I had set up my camp at a County Fair, the first time ever doing so.  In most events I do, I am at a school or show where there are mostly students or a corporate or government event with only adults.  This was a very rare experience to have entire families to visit and enjoy spending time.  I was left with some very rewarding memories and a hope for the future generation.

The majority of children I met were attentive, well behaved and had great questions.  The parents were equally interested in making sure their children understood the moment they were having was a unique opportunity to be able to talk to Roosevelt and learn.   I also made sure that those parents learned along the way too!

One of the most rewarding conversations was on a Sunday morning where I sat down in camp with a couple and we started talking about their interest in history.  As we spoke, we all agreed that to truly understand our country, you need to start at the beginning of the United States.  (The natives are our first true American’s, but in this conversation we spoke of the formation of the United States in relation to King George)

I set them out on a homework assignment which I assumed they would do later in the week.  However, they came back within an hour and we sat down again and had another fantastic discussion.  Here was the homework assignment: Read the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence.

All most all of us know the beginning of the second paragraph.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….”  But it is the last sentence that shows to the extent that the men and women who created our American experiment were willing to go. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Now I have a homework assignment for you:  Read that last sentence again and ask yourself, how far would you go to protect what they created for you?