LAPC #230 – Last Chance
This is the last LAPC Challenge theme. Tina invites us to share photos“must have been created in 2022 AND must not have been previously published in response to a LA challenge.”
The other day, as I was reading, I thought about sharing a couple of my learning adventures from my recent readings in addition to these “previously-unused” photos.
When I first saw the title of “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris” by David McCullough, I was’t so excited, but I downloaded the e-book anyway. Actually, I’ve learned as much as I had from other history books written by Mr. McCullough. Here are a few highlights:
In the 1830s, the first wave of talented and ambitious Americans (ambitious to excel themselves) set sail for Paris. They then brought what they learned back home,” in the form of newly acquired professional skills, new ideas, and new ways of seeing things.”
They chose arts and architecture, but many went to the medical field (when America didn’t have a medical school). Most of them didn’t have money and didn’t know the French language. In this book, I’ve learned how France had already advanced in these fields and how French affected American history in the 19th Century and beyond.
Between 1830 and 1860, 700 hundreds of American students went to Paris to attend medical schools (p.104).
In chapter 4: “The Medicals”, Mr. McCullough tells the story of the medical development in France. In 1833. During the cholera epidemic (18,000 people died in Paris in just a few months), 12 hospitals in Paris provided treatment to 65,935 patients, while in Boston, two hospitals cared for 800 patients a year.
“… Medicine was a science to be sure, but also an art, the noblest of arts.” (p.134)
This quote reminds me that our doctors perform this noblest of arts day-in and day-out. It takes a lot to be a physician and a nurse. I recall an ICU nurse said to me at the hospital, “I really believe it is a calling.” It is the noblest calling.
Why study history? Mr. MaCullough stresses (in one of his lectures) that history helps us navigate in troubled and uncertain times. He believes history is a source of great inspiration and strength, and that source is our story, our history, who we are, how we got to be, where we are, and all we have been through and what we have achieved.
This summer, we had a privilege to visit The Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The photo below was the first sight of the majestic George Washington sculpture. It was a stunning sight to behold.
There, I remember Mr. McCullough said, “There are more reasons to give thanks to the freedom we enjoy. We must never, never take it for granted.”
I have more to share, but the post is getting a bit long, and I know you have many blog sites to visit. I’ll enclose this post with the quote below (From Mr. McCullough quote):
“History cultivates every faculty of the mind.
Englarges sympathies, liberalizes thought and feeling,
furnishes and approves the highest standards of character.”
— Margaret Phelps (Ms. Phelps was Truman’s high school teacher)
The World Is A Book... 
What a great post, Amy. I learned so much and loved seeing your terrific pictures – thank you!
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