The Sunday School teacher talked too much in the way our grade school teacher used to when she told us about George Washington. Pleasant, pretty stories, but not true.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It is hard for anyone who discovers George Washington not to write about him, perhaps because he is so hard to discover and such a surprise when you do.
Things happened there that I don't think are the finest hours for anybody, whether it was a journalist, the legal system or, in that case of the political system, who would say that was an example of when Washington worked best.
But, look, Washington is a town that creates myths for its own existence and its own amusement, and I was a subject of myth, sort of like Grendel in Beowulf - you know, not seen very often but often talked about.
The irony is that Washington was, in reality, very much like Benedict Arnold. The big difference was that Washington was ultimately able to control his emotions, something Arnold never learned to do.
The white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot and George Washington - wasn't nothing non-violent about old Pat or George Washington.
Any writing teacher tells you to write what you know, and for better or for worse, Washington is a world I know well.
Washington culture has always had a difficult time acknowledging untruth.
If it takes talking about unpleasant truths to change Washington, then so be it.
You think of George Washington, this man who was larger than life, and in some ways he was. But at the same time, he's just a person.
George Washington, as a boy, was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie.