The conclusion of this series brings me much sadness. It has inspired me to re-examine our history, to reflect upon our country its great legacy and the errors of our ways past and present that enables me to continue wondering about our future.

I constantly go back to the statement "the sins of the fathers" and think nothing could be more pertinent. These men of great courage, bravery, bravado, intellect and ego clearly had a will to see America a free and independent nation. I wonder if they knew any more than beyond the immediate as we still struggle for the balance between states and a central government and what it means to have a separate church and state. I think they tried to find some balance hence the symbol of justice is the scales as there is no easy solution.

These men who seemed very much men of their time were also men of the people that now seems long gone. I look to our current crop of candidates and hear their sniping and clear disconnect from what is "middle class" and am reminded very much of Adams own frustrations, his own fear of being ambivalent and useless yet there he was a man of 80 roofing his house and building stone walls. He was still very connected to what brought him there in the first place while Jefferson "gentleman farmer" was in fact a Francophile and intellect who also owned slaves and denied the children connected to that relationship.. his roots forgotten. The modern man vs the man of history each with their own role and place in the history of their lives as well as the country. Again duality of the scales.

Power is seductive and is a heady mistress... we lose sight of ourselves in our quest for it and that has not changed. We speak of God and we yet have documents that state a clear separation of church and state but nothing we do is without a reminder of God.. from our money to the bible we use to swear our President in office, we are never really far from God and religion as the foundation of our country.

Again those scales work overtime.. we have yet to find balance and our system.. from two parties.. to checks and balances it is set up to always tip the scales and put into motion both the questions and answers we seek to find resolution. So in that resolution is not possible.. our system does not permit it. Adams felt he would be forgotten, not relevant.. well like all things in the United States that much is true.. what is in fashion at one point is out the next but it existed and that influence is what remains.. the pattern, the design.. perhaps not the designer but the finished product speaks for itself..

I think about our current President and wonder if he will ever question his legacy as did Adams, will he retire to a life of faux work on his faux ranch and pretend to the role of gentle rancher who just "happened" to be President or will he find a voice, a role and offer something to this country that his office and leadership could not. If anything we have learned from this is that the acts of the man is not judged by his single act but by the entirety of his works.