The seventh grade went to the Constitution Center in Philadelphia today. It was fun to be able to hang back and watch the emerging dynamics that budding teenagers are famous for. There was a provocative play that touched on tough issues like gun control and privacy, and how they fit with the Constitution. The script explored possibilities such as transparent back packs. Afterwards he actors invited opinions and hands shot up like popcorn. 

We walked over to Independence Hall and heard the story of the Declaration of Independence. Our docent posited that this was the most significant room in American history. She described the impasse that erupted around having the same number of representatives regardless of state size, and a system that reflected population. The idea of Senators and Representatives emerged and was coined the Great Compromise. My respect for the men who crafted the document grew two sizes. 

At the tail end of our tour we visited the room full of life size bronze statues of all the men whose signatures appear at the bottom, and the kids took selfies with George, Ben, and Thomas. I pondered the discrepancy between politicians then and now. Surely the mettle of men in 1776 outstripped the ones currently in office.

But then I saw an inscription on the wall. It said something about not assuming that these men had more wisdom, or moral virtue than others. They were merely trying to create a democracy in spite of their imperfections. 

It is tempting to assume that people whose stories are over knew what they were doing. After all it's common knowledge that the Patriots licked the British. But when it was happening uncertainty eclipsed their shining hopes. The chair that Washington sat in during the deliberations had a carved sun, and Franklin was relieved to believe it was rising rather than setting. 

The same uncertainty shows up as we try to break free of the selfishness that has a stranglehold on our relationships. We might wish that we were as wise or unimpeachable as our grandparents. Yet they wavered too, and had to compose their own Great Compromises.

Hopefully the sun is rising on our marriages as brightly as it did on that infant democracy three centuries ago.