There are places on Earth where the weight of history is tangible, and where inspiring symbols commemorate the struggles of generations past, and the virtue of men and women of vision and strength. At the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington D.C., I felt the weight of history as never before. As water sparkled in the sun over the smooth granite of the National WWII Memorial, the colonnade of the Lincoln Memorial in the distance silently asserted the core principles of the nation.