The Arch of History

  

Yesterday morning, I had about three hours on my hands. My night owl brother was finally going to bed at 10:00 AM after being up all night and us eating Popovers for breakfast, a family favorite which he has mastered making pop, My dad looked like he was headed into nap zone. I decided to head over to Valley Forge Park to walk the outer loop. It is about 4-5 miles around.  It was chilly, windy, but sunny. I didn't have my work out clothes with me as this was a bit unexpected. So, in my leather sandals, I trotted through the Park at a fairly brisk pace. I completed the walk in just over two hours. As it was Easter  morning, the Park was not super crowded but there were plenty of people around,  either riding bikes, jogging, or walking. A lot of Chinese families (from what I could tell) riding bikes. Not sure what that was all about.  

Valley Forge Park is an open space of land. Being that it is surrounded by King of Prussia Mall, Chesterbrook, and the 422 and 202 commercial corridors, it gives locals a place to escape the squeeze of consumerism and commercialism. Get some fresh air, work out, take the dog for a run, and the like. Since I grew up around Valley Forge Park,  I have been visiting for half a century. As kids, we'd spend the day in the Park.  As teens we would  ride our bikes down and hang out playing Frisbee in Wayne's Woods, or sledding down the hill where General Anthony Wayne's statue is. So many memories.  It is just over an hour from where I live now but I don't come down regularly unless it is a holiday. 

I came upon the Arch yesterday and snapped the picture. Just a perfect day for a photograph of it. The Arch is modeled after one in Rome which was constructed for Trajan to commemorate his campaign in destroying Jerusalem in AD 70. The same Arch design was later replicated in Paris centuries later. Then, the Valley Forge Arch was constructed in the early 1900's. Of the three Arches, this one decidedly was constructed to honor the underdog, American soldiery versus Britain, who would have been the Roman Empire equivalent in Colonial times. So, the Arch was first a symbol  of Rome crushing the Jews and then it became a commemoration of America fighting and prevailing over the British Empire with the necessary assistance of the French. Which thus explains the French influence on the Valley Forge Arch. 

I resumed my walk after snapping the picture. I just thought it ironic that which symbolized imperial Rome and power became the symbol of the American Revolution. What a reversal. Maybe analogous on  how the Cross, a violent symbol of Roman rule (over 2000 people a year were crucified per by the Romans in Judea alone) became the sign of hope for Christians for 2000 years. Hard to figure out how that could have happened without Christianity being true.