About ten days ago I was in Washington, DC doing some sightseeing. I took the opportunity to visit the National Archives to see the copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that are on display there.
As I stood in the serpentine line in front of the chamber where they are in special, climate controlled cases, I could see that the light in the chamber is dim and has a yellowish cast to protect the documents. No flash photography is allow. When it was my group's turn to view, I went to the Constitution and Bill of Rights first. The writing on the old documents was faint. It was hard to read the words through the tinted glass and dim light for the ink was quite faded. There seemed to be erasures here and there. Those marks were probably copiest's corrections, but as I stood there I had a nearly irrepressable urge to try bring the words on the parchment, and the rights they bestow, back to full vigor by clapping my hands and loudly chanting, "I believe. I believe. I believe."
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