Lighthouses!
Today, August 7th, is National Lighthouse Day.
On this day in 1789, Congress approved “An Act for the Establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers.” It was a bold step, indeed. Consider the following quote from the text of the act itself:
None of the said expenses shall continue to be so defrayed by the United States, after the expiration of one year from the day aforesaid, unless such lighthouses, beacons, buoys and public piers, shall in the mean time be ceded to and vested in the United States, by the state or states respectively in which the same may be, together with the lands and tenements thereunto belonging, and together with the jurisdiction of the same.
See how bold that was? Actually, I’m not sure if it’s bold or not. I picked the quote above because it was the only part I sort of understood, and I don’t even understand it that well, anyway. They can be forgiven, though. Later that day, they established the U.S. War Department. It’s hard to get excited about lighthouses when you get to create something totally awesome like the War Department. I mean, it’s a department… of war. You don’t create one of those everyday, that’s for sure. But back to lighthouses…
Today, make sure to take some time to reflect on how your life has been enhanced by lighthouses. What’s that? You can’t think of any ways in which you have personally benefited from the existence of lighthouses? That’s funny, because I can’t either. So thanks for nothing, lighthouses. You’ve had your time. What if boats stopped using GPS to navigate, and started using lighthouses again? They’d be running aground, crashing into each other left and right. It would be great, actually. Something to consider.
