While leading student groups on their annual eighth grade trip to Washington, DC, a student asked me which memorial I liked the most. Pausing to reflect, I replied: “It depends. When I was in elementary school, my parents took us kids to Washington, DC to learn about our government, to visit our senator, and to see the memorials and monuments. As I stood in the rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial, I held my father’s big warm hand and told him I liked the Jefferson Memorial. He agreed with me as we gazed up into the dome at the quotes in awe, together, father and daughter. I felt a glowing sense of love. Love for things that beautiful, for my father, for my country. For beauty I love the Jefferson Memorial. Its simple circular lines, Ionic columns, and open rotunda, the view of the Tidal Basin, White House, and Washington Monument, leave me always in awe. But I love the Lincoln Memorial and for who Abraham Lincoln was - our 16th President, bearing the full burden of keeping the Union together and emancipating the enslaved people, leaving his legacy with General Ulysses S. Grant who became President after the disastrous Andrew Johnson and then reelected as well. I like seeing the many people who come from all over the world to visit the Lincoln Memorial. I’ve stood on the steps of the LIncoln Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his iconic “I have a dream” speach. I’ve stood on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial and viewed the cherry trees gracing the rim of the Tidal Basin. Both memorials inspire visitors for different reasons. I’ve heard teachers and students exclaim, “This is beautiful. I get it. I get democracy !” It is called a transcendent experience and every Certified Interpretive Guide looks to create these experiences. It is what makes the visit memorable. It is what leads a visitor to choose a memorial they like most. So come to Washington, DC and walk the Mall with me. Choose the memorial you like most.