Being George Washington (2 page)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 978-1-4516-5926-9 (print)
ISBN 978-1-4516-5931-3 (eBook)
T
o my son, Raphe, whom I fear we are leaving with an overwhelming amount of work to do to make things right. I hope you always remember that one man can make a difference. That
you
can make a difference.
George Washington struggled to become a better man every single day of his life. But, through those struggles, he ultimately gave mankind its first real taste of freedom since the Garden of Eden. Now it’s up to you and your generation to ensure that we don’t lose it. But you have one great advantage over me: you can start now. It wasn’t until after you were born that I found the man who I really want to be and finally got down to work.
Raphe, there will be many struggles ahead; many years of sacrifice and hard work. The only advice I can offer is that if you spend your life in pursuit of becoming the man you read about in this book, you will never go wrong.
Chapter 2: The Harder the Conflict, the More Glorious the Triumph
Chapter 10: The World Turned Upside Down
Chapter 11: Gray in Your Service
Chapter 12: A Moment of Crisis, a Lifetime of Preparation
Chapter 13: To Please All Is Impossible
Chapter 14: Little Short of a Miracle
Chapter 16: A Humble Agent of Heaven
About the Writing of This Book
I
t would be nice if Twitter and Facebook had been around during the Revolutionary War. We’d have minute-by-minute accounts of every battle and historic decision that Washington ever made along with photos of the Delaware crossing, the trenches outside Yorktown, and the misery at Valley Forge. Instead, we have to rely on history books to tell us what really happened and our own minds to visualize how things really looked.
In crafting these chapters we tried our best to rely on published historical accounts and other reference material, taking dramatic license when necessary, so long as it did not change any of the major facts. Generally speaking, we simply added plausible details that have been lost to history in an effort to turn extraordinary events into readable stories.
There are, of course, disagreements among reasonable people over many of the events of this era. Like a two-century-long game of telephone tag, rumors become fact and facts become rumor. Whenever we encountered one of these disputed stories we attempted to make note of it so that you can do your own homework and make your own determination.
I also want to offer special thanks to the experts who helped with research and accuracy, including Mary V. Thompson, Research Historian at Mount Vernon. And I am grateful to the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS) for its permission to use portions of
The Real George Washington
in the creation of this book.
Finally, it should go without saying that any errors or omissions outside of dramatic license are mine alone.
M
y name is Glenn Beck, and I am George Washington.
I am the leader of men. I am fearless. I am the person others will aspire to be for generations. I am the indispensable man.
I am also … nothing special. I am average. I am flawed. I am fallible. I am emotional. I am awkward. And I am way too fond of ice cream.
Right now, in a café that a corporation has designed specifically to look independent of corporate influence, a blogger is typing furiously. He or she is sipping briskly from an eight-ounce can of lightly carbonated energy drink in an effort to stay awake for just a few more minutes to complete work on their newly discovered but soon-to-be mega-controversy-of-the-day.
Glenn Beck thinks he’s George Washington! He has a Washington complex! He’s actually named his book “Being George Washington.” His ego is out of control! He must be threatening to start a revolution? I knew the Tea Party was dangerous!
The news of my self-elevation to national fatherhood will likely spread from blog to blog, then to news sources and pundits, all of whom will be more than happy to spread the news that Glenn Beck’s messianic complex can no longer be contained.
None of them, of course, will take the time to realize the irony of the situation: they are literally judging a book by its cover.
So, what’s the truth?
Simple,
I do
believe I am George Washington.
But I believe that you are, too.
I don’t believe this because I have an extraordinarily high opinion of myself. I believe it because I have a real understanding of who George Washington was.
Contrary to popular belief, George Washington was not born as a 555-foot, 5-inch monument. He was never a painting or a statue or a city. He was just a man, albeit one who happened to see his principles as immovable objects rather than minor inconveniences.
That’s what is truly inspiring about George Washington: He was human, a capeless superhero. He faced many of the same challenges in life that we all face. Yes, he was given the responsibility to deal with historic challenges on a scope that is difficult for us to imagine today, but the reason he was given enormous responsibilities is that people admired how he handled the small ones. He lived his life in a way that impressed and inspired others, so when the most trying times arrived, they all looked to him. Over and over again, he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the good of others.
George Washington wound up at the top of every insurmountable mountain he came to because he never acknowledged that there was an insurmountable mountain in front of him. Sure, he knew the enormity of what he was facing, but he saw each decision as just another step and he used his principles and faith (yes, sorry, critics: the man clearly believed that God’s hand was guiding America) to constantly maintain sure footing.
The Washington Monument tells this story, albeit unintentionally, as it towers above Washington, D.C. From a distance, it is a perfect structure. It owns the skyline. It is bigger than life itself in a city filled with people who think
they’re
bigger than life itself. But as you walk up to the structure and view it up close—you can’t help but notice all of its imperfections.
In 1854, six years into its construction, work on the project ground to a halt. There was simply no more money left for the monument. (Yes, amazing as it seems, the government used to actually stop projects when they couldn’t fund them.) When construction began again, the quarry that provided the stone for the first half could no longer be used because it had been exhausted building bunkers for the war.
Today, when you stand close to the monument you will notice that it is two-toned. The marble, granite and stone used for the lower half is clearly a lighter shade than those used on top. It is the monument that life and war got in the way of. But those imperfections serve as a perfect tribute to Washington. He
was
that monument. From the distance of
hundreds of years, he appears superhuman, able to soar to heights that you and I cannot. In reality, however, his life was a series of challenges, handled with honor, firmness, and faith, brick by brick.
Many times he succeeded in facing those challenges, but sometimes he did not. Slavery is one frequently cited example. Yes, it’s true: George Washington owned slaves. You can make all kinds of excuses for it (it was the norm of the time, he strongly advocated for the practice to be abolished, he treated his slaves well, he freed them upon his wife’s death, etc.), but you cannot ignore it. It is a flaw, an imperfection, a part of his life that, were he around today, I am sure he would regret. But it’s also proof that this man really was
just a man
.
Throughout the coming pages, we will not fall into the trap of exclusively gazing at the final monument from a distance. Instead we will get up close and examine some of the most important stones—how they were laid into place, and what quarry they came from. And, most important, we will use these events to help sketch a blueprint of how to inspire the
next
George Washington, and millions more like him.
This book’s title will serve as our guide through that journey in two different ways. First, you will experience some of Washington’s major exploits in a way that perhaps you never have before. Too often, the stories of our founding are told in a way that makes you feel like you are reading boring anecdotes about old men in powdered wigs. But, for those of us who aren’t academics, that kind of historical accounting simply doesn’t work.
I don’t want you to just read about Valley Forge or Yorktown, I want you to
live
it. I don’t want you to just read about George Washington, I want you to
know
him. I want you to
be him.
Second, this book will attempt to show that
all of us can be the next George Washington
. We all have a role to play. No one, not Washington, Lincoln, or anyone else could do it alone. America will only change for the better when more of us believe this to be true instead of simply dismissing it as meaningless self-help pseudo-psychology.
George Washington was just a guy. Before that, he was, like many of us, a young man who navigated personal relationships like an awkward teenager in an after-school special. He asked a young woman named Betsey Fauntleroy to marry him. She said no. He asked again. She said
no again. He wrote poems to her. He became the old-timey version of John Cusack standing outside of the bedroom window of the girl he loved holding a boom box playing Peter Gabriel over his head—except, in this movie, there was no happy ending. Betsey’s parents saw the man who would eventually be the father of the greatest country to ever grace the earth as too low-class for their daughter.
While he was president, Washington’s mother accused him of abandoning her. She claimed she was starving while he was spending tons of money on ice cream, which was one of his vices. She claimed he neglected her and tried to get a law passed mandating that presidents not neglect their mothers.
Imagine how that would play on cable news today?
None of the accusations of neglect were true (although Washington did spend the equivalent of $5,000 in today’s money on ice cream during the hot summer of 1790), but Washington dealt with the same crushing and ridiculous family drama that everyone does at one time or another.
Yet the way most people remember him flies in the face of the lessons we should learn from his life.
We remember a normal-sized man with a giant monument in his honor. We remember a man who was too poor to impress the parents of the girl he loved because he didn’t have much money by putting his face on our currency. We remember a man known for his honesty with a fabricated story about a cherry tree.
That must stop. We must instead remember that while Washington was a fearless leader who truly was indispensable, he was also average, emotional, awkward, and way too fond of ice cream.
For America to achieve the greatness that George Washington achieved, we first have to remember that it is achievable. We have to remember that any difficult journey always begins with a first small step. We have to look up at the insurmountable mountain and pretend that it doesn’t exist. You won’t be George Washington next week or next year, and you may, in fact, not ever cross the finish line … and that’s okay. The simple act of reaching for a standard that so many others will dismiss as unattainable is enough to make a real difference.
I can tell you unequivocally that being George Washington will be the hardest thing you ever attempt to do in your life. It will also be the
most fulfilling and rewarding. Living a life of honor, integrity, and humility may not make you millions of dollars or result in your name being splashed across movie posters—but it will earn you something far more enduring: the lasting respect of those you care about most. And if that doesn’t happen? Well, you can always eat ice cream.
Glenn Beck
IntroductionNew York City, 2011
Our rifles were leveled (at Washington), rifles which, but for him, knew not how to miss—’twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded him from harm. He cannot die in battle…. Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man, and guides his destinies—he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire!
—UNNAMED INDIAN CHIEF
ON THE OHIO FRONTIER, FALL OF 1770