A Magic Moment at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This is Marybeth and I want to share a moment in time that was surreal.  As the kids were watching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Phil and I met beyond the ceremony to discuss the options we had to use the empty amphitheater nearby.  After a few minutes of brainstorming, I sat down and wrote the following note on my iPhone:

Headstones in this vast cemetery represent a single person who served In the armed forces. Each person, just like those who marched across the fields during Pickett's charge, was defending, protecting, honoring, and sometimes dying for the rights guaranteed in our constitution. I call these rights freedom.
How do these headstones, these men and woman, represent the freedoms you have now - today?  Equality to vote, non-segregation, to protest the government, to speak your ideals publicly, to practice your religion.
These freedoms continue to be defined and defended each and every day. The freedom to marry?  The freedom to protect or terminate a pregnancy?
As we sit here amongst the the fallen, in reverence, solitude and solidarity, how have your thoughts, feelings or attitudes shifted since this morning when you awoke?

After the ceremony the kids sat on the steps of the amphitheater in the shade while I used my notes to focus them.  They were silent, engaged, and focused.  Shortly after I began my "speech," Taps began to play from nearby.  We listened in silence - complete and utter silence.  Magical, indeed.