The first person who comes to mind for me with this question is Thomas Jefferson. Most people would probably expect me to say Jesus! And that would be amazing (obviously) but that did not come to immediately to mind, I suppose because Jesus is just greater than my imagination can muster.
As a Virginia girl who grew up loving history and visiting all of the historical places and museums around the commonwealth, Jefferson has always stood out to me. Monticello is such a fascinating place to visit and my family lives in Bedford County, not too far from his second home, Poplar Forest. As I write this my son is sitting beside me in a UVA hat, and I've always appreciated Jefferson's commitment to education.
Some things I would love to discuss with TJ are as follows:
1) Tell me about drafting the Declaration of Independence and your impressions of the war that followed. Just so we can clear the air about what you meant when you declared that all are created equal....how did this settle with your conscience as a slave owner? From what I understand, Jefferson struggled with the idea of slavery and yet as a businessman with a plantation continued to live into the societal norms of the day. Furthermore, I wonder what TJ would have to say about the state of affairs today in our country. I wonder what he would have to say about his great university being the stage for such ugliness and violence by white supremacists in recent years.
2) In a similar vein, let's talk about Sally Hemmings and her children. I would love to know the true nature of this relationship and all of the history behind it! I think the discoveries being made at Monticello are so interesting and revealing. You know we tend to put our historical figures such as Jefferson and Washington on pedestals, but they were also human and flawed just like the rest of us. I'd like to hear about his struggles alongside his successes.
3) I would just love to discuss the architecture of Jefferson's homes. There are so many cool inventions and gems in his dwellings. As a kid I was fascinated by the pulley system in Monticello that was used in the dining room to deliver meals. And I also love the gardens created on the property. I am not a person with a green thumb, but I can appreciate the beauty. As stunning as the property is now, imagine how much more impressive it would have been in his day.
4) Finally, I am so intrigued by Jefferson's Bible. The fact that he decided to take the scriptures and basically cut and paste what he felt was important or true blows my mind! Such a typical human response, to cherry pick portions of the Word...but I would love to hear his thought process behind this. For example, Jefferson left out the miracles of Jesus and anything he would have considered "supernatural" including the Resurrection! Well, the Resurrection is kind of the crux of the whole thing, is it not? So as we are now in the season of Lent, it is curious to me, I wonder what Jefferson thought about Easter....
Who would you want to meet from the past? A family member? A historical figure? A person from the scriptures?
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| Monticello, C. Jeremy Cannada |
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