A Trip to the Lincoln Memorial

Last year, my fifth grade class went on a unique filed trip to The Lincoln Memorial. We were there to recite the speech, “I Have A Dream.” We practiced for weeks and maybe months just for those five minutes. When we got there, it wasn’t what we expected. As we were walking towards the memorial, we looked down at our feet and saw a reflecting pool. We thought that it would be fresh, neat and maybe full of water. We looked down and saw that the reflecting pool (where the people had stood in 1969 watching the brave and courageous Dr. King make that bold and full-of-good-information speech) was full of trash, birds and food. The birds were eating the trash that people had thrown into the pool. We were not going to let that bring us down even though we were sad and disappointed when we saw the reflecting pool. We were going to do exactly what we came to do. We took a deep breath and recited the speech just like Martin Luther King Jr. himself. While we were reciting the famous poem, my teacher stood on the side recording the whole thing so she could show it to our parents at the parent-teacher conference. After we recited the poem, we received a standing ovation from the people that came to see the Lincoln Memorial. When I saw the trash in the pool I felt mad and started thinking about how Dr.King would feel. I thought he would start feeling mad and disappointed. But, that’s just me! It was so fun and so educational that I would like to do it all over again!