Christmas presents. Valentine cards. It’s interesting how many of the holiday traditions we hold most dear center around children. Most are primarily for children, of course, but a few were actually started by children. For example, take the annual Easter Egg Roll held on the grounds of the White House every year.
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that it shall be the duty of the Capitol police hereafter to prevent any portion of the Capitol grounds and terraces from being used as playgrounds or otherwise.1 – The Turf Protection Law, 1876
It started in 1876, when a throng of children – some estimate as many as 10,000 – staged an impromptu march on the nation’s capitol.2 Their objective was not to protest, but to play. For the better part of a day, the children laughed, cheered, and shouted as they rolled colored eggs down the grass of Capitol Hill. As one newspaper reported, “The noise was so great that in the House and Senate Chambers it drowned all other sounds.”2
By the end of the day, the grass was so worn down that the entire Hill was almost bare.
No matter what side of the political aisle you fall on, pretty much everyone agrees that Congress often seems to go out of its way to be unpopular. Such was the case then. Less than two weeks after Easter, Congress passed the Turf Protection Law, banning the use of Capitol grounds for things like fun.
A fierce rainstorm effectively canceled Easter celebrations in 1877, but one year later, the children returned – only to find the police barring their way. As any parent will tell you, though, deny a child something and they only want it more.
And these children would not be denied.
Finding one door closed, the children promptly opened another. Together, they marched up Pennsylvania Avenue to the next likely spot – the White House.
Wisely, President Rutherford B. Hayes decided to give in to the diminutive mob’s demands. Perhaps remembering Thomas Jefferson’s old saying that “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing,” he ordered the guards to open the gates. The children poured in, the eggs began to roll, and a good time was had by all.
Almost every year ever since, the White House has hosted an annual Easter Egg Roll. It’s a bipartisan tradition grander than any State of the Union address. Meanwhile, all around the world, millions of families stage their own Easter festivities. Some are indoors, and some are out; some involve eggs, and some don’t; but most have one thing in common: children.
Rituals are a reminder of what’s truly important in life. Not politics or possessions. Not fame or fortune. For me, Easter is always that our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered, bled, and died for the redemption of our sins, and that he was resurrected so that we may live again and enjoy eternal life.
As a financial advisor, my job is to help you work toward your goals in life. Most of the time, we focus on topics like investing and retirement planning. Those are certainly crucial, but at times the best thing we can do is to be a little more like those children almost 150 years ago. We can remember that sometimes, the most important thing in life is to roll a colored egg down a hill – and let nothing stand in our way from doing so.
On behalf of all of us here at Wealth Advisors, I wish you and your family a very blessed Easter!
