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Maryland Day: The Future, The Past
By Bryan Jaffe
ST. MARY’S TODAY
ST. MARY’S CITY --- Maryland Celebrated its 370th
birthday last Sunday, but the focus of the event was as much about looking to the future
as remembering the past.
“Early
Maryland struggled to define opportunity,” said Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele,
the keynote speaker for the ceremony. He said that there were many problems that faced the
settlers in terms of who should get what and who should do what.
“Remember,
we are the inheritors of these problems,” Steele continued, “Equal Justice and
full liberty are still denied to too many.”
He said that it was important to remember the original goals of the
settlers, which were tolerance and freedom, and to focus on making those goals reality.
Steele pointed to his own election as a sign of the progress that
has been made already, explaining that he is the first black person elected to a statewide
office in the history of the state.
Keeping
with the annual tradition of the ceremony, there was a “Flag Flourish,”performed
by a Calvert militiaman, which showed the way that a early soldier would use the colors of
a company to urge soldiers forward in battle while taunting the enemy. A parade of
colors was established
in which one student from each of Maryland’s 23 counties and one student from
Baltimore City were chosen to carry their county’s flag forward and a three gun
salute by militiamen with black powder muskets fired their weapons when a wreath was
layed.
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D. 5th District) spoke on the
importance of reconstructing the Brick Chapel in St. Mary’s City, which was the first
Catholic Church in the United States. He also
discussed the challenges that faced the first settlers and the challenges that face
Marylanders today.
“We all have challenges, some are more visible than others,”
Hoyer said, pointing out Juliette Rizzo, Ms. Wheelchair Maryland, in the audience to
illustrate his point. He said that her
challenge to overcome was physical in nature.
Hoyer
said that the settlers who first arrived in Maryland faced a new opportunity and
adventure, and that they recognized the possibilities that lay before them. He then said that it was this forward thinking and
their faith in their vision that allowed them to overcome the challenges of the trip to
the New Land and the challenges of settling in a strange country.
