It’s Armistice Day, November 11th, in thenation's capital. It is a brisk day at Arlington National Cemetery. Dignitaries stand silently on the third anniversaryof the ending of World War I, watching as a single white casket is lowered into a marbledtomb. In attendance is President Calvin Coolidge,former President Woodrow Wilson, Supreme Court Justice (as well as former President) WilliamHoward Taft, Chief Plenty Coups, and hundreds of dedicated United States servicemen. As the casket settles on its final restingplace in the tomb, upon a thin layer of French soil, three salvos are fired. A bugler plays taps and, with the final note,comes a 21 gun salute. The smoke clears and eyes dry as the UnknownSoldier from World War I is laid to rest; the first unknown soldier to be officiallyhonored in this manner in American history. The United States’ allies in World War I,France and Britain, were the first countries to practice the concept of burying an “unknownsoldier.” World W...
There's something about caves -- a shadowy opening in a limestonecliff that draws you in. As you pass through the portalbetween light and dark, you enter a subterranean world -- a place of perpetual gloom,of earthy smells, of hushed silence. Long ago in Europe, ancient people also enteredthese underground worlds. As witness to their passage, they left behind mysteriousengravings and paintings, like this panel of humans, trianglesand zigzags from Ojo Guareña in Spain. You now walk the same pathas these early artists. And in this surreal, otherworldly place, it's almost possible to imagine that you hear the muffled footfallof skin boots on soft earth, or that you see the flickering of a torcharound the next bend. When I'm in a cave, I often find myself wonderingwhat drove these people to go so deep to brave dangerous and narrowpassageways to leave . In Spain, we found a seriesof red paintings on a ceiling in a previously unexploredsection of the cave. As we crawled forward,...