Herndon Day

In Annapolis, the United States Naval Academy has an annual event where the plebes worked together to climb the lard-covered 21-foot tall monument. The legend has that the plebe that snatched the hat on the top of the monument shall be ranked as the first Admiral someday in the future.

It is a fun tradition that intrigued me. There are two things that I really liked about Annapolis -- the Herndon Monument and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk. I visited the Herndon Monument once in the past and observed the plebes struggling to work together and climb to the top of the monument. When they are done, they often stumbled down because the lard was so greasy, sloppy and smelly! Really, when I stood about 50 feet away from the drama, I could SMELL the sweat, aroma and lard around the scene. But it was absolutely eye candy for me to watch the plebes doing the man's work for more than two hours in '00. Merritt would shriek, "Do it for me!"

I just learned that last Thursday was the Herndon Day -- if I was in DC, I would be there. I like to watch these men doing the fun things, not torturing the "enemy combatants" as the Bush Administration wanted them to do.

Congratulations to whoever snatched the hat at the top of the monument.

R-