By Holly Dayton ’13, Contributor

Populated by hundreds of thousands of Americans, scores of American flags and infectious patriotism, the National Mall Washington D.C. was a thrilling place to be on August 28, 2010. My mother first suggested attending Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally a few weeks ago. My father agreed, because he wanted me to see the discrepancy that often happens between attending an event and the reporting on it. I didn’t know what to expect.  Beck hadn’t been very descriptive prior to the event. He had, however, made it clear that it wasn’t political, but instead meant to be more patriotic. I didn’t understand exactly how that would work, but I kept an open mind.

The rally started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, so my family arrived at 9 a.m.. The crowd had already backed up to the WWII Memorial by the time we got there, so we settled down on the lawn. The general feeling was very positive and friendly. We got to know a father and daughter from Austin, Texas who were on the lawn next to us. We later moved twice so we could hear the speakers better. The camaraderie we experienced at each of the three places we sat on the Mall made it feel more like a huge, inspirational picnic than what the Washington Post described as “a sea of activists.[1]”

The crowd was predominantly Caucasian, though I did see African-Americans and Hispanics in attendance. Though the attendees were mostly of one race, there was nothing racist in the speeches.  The people there were of all ages, from little children with their parents to older couples in camping chairs. The assembly was a fantastic one of Americans from all different walks of life who had all come to Washington D.C. for a rally that, as far as they knew, was just on the general subject of patriotism and restoring honor to America.

The first hour of the event focused on honoring the military, with Sarah Palin speaking as the mother of a soldier. The stated purpose of the event was to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides a four-year college education to children of killed Special Operations personnel. During the rally, Beck reported that they had already raised more than five and a half million dollars. Beck and Palin honored three soldiers, one of whom had been the lone survivor of a massacre by the Taliban, another who had lost both his hands by a phosphorous grenade in Iraq, and a third who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. It was inspirational to hear the cheers and applause for these brave men, for they have truly risked their lives for our country.

Another featured speaker was Alveda King, Martin Luther King’s niece. Although Beck’s choice to hold the rally on the 47^th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the same location of King’s famous speech, was controversial, he claimed to have not realized the dates coincided. Alveda King made a few modern “I Have a Dream” proclamations and the Restoring Honor rally paid homage to the connection. However, her speech wasn’t intended to be a modern version of the famous oration.

On the whole, the rally turned out to be more introspective and centered on the individual than I had expected. Beck, in particular, called for each attendee to focus on faith, hope, and charity in their lives for 40 days; those three concepts also formed theme for the rally. Badges of Merit, a concept originally created by George Washington, were given out to three individuals who had exhibited faith, hope, or charity. The Badge for Faith was given to Pastor Charles Lewis “CL” Jackson, the Badge for Hope to Albert Pujols and the Badge for Charity to Jon Huntsman. Pastor Jackson was praised for his faithful and sacrificial giving of his time and abilities. Albert Pujols was honored for his hopeful attitude towards life, which he claims is from his faith.  Jon Huntsman Sr. was commended for his amazing philanthropy toward curing cancer, most notably at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Beck spoke for the last hour, and his speech was clearly influenced by his faith. He highlighted the strong faith of the founding fathers and the Judeo-Christian principles on which America was built. His entreaty was reinforced by his belief that a solid foundation in faith and Christian values would ethically change America for the good. After that, he spoke on the importance of hope even in dark times. Finally he encouraged charity which starts at home; spending time with family, giving them extra attention, and helping others when they need it most.

Beck was true to his word in keeping overtly political points out of his speech. The crowd wore patriotic or everyday clothing, and though I saw hundreds of people pass directly in front of me, only one or two shirts had blatant political messages. Beck requested on his website and reiterated on television and radio to not bring signs, “political or otherwise,[2]” and nearly all the crowd I saw respected that. Glenn Beck acted like an emcee throughout the rally, opening the event, filling the pieces in between, and finally speaking at the end. I came away from the event feeling that I had been to an invigorating, patriotic gathering. And while Beck’s presence was unmistakable, it did not define the event. Everything considered, my take on Beck’s message to the attendees, and to America, is that to restore honor and merit to our country, we, as individual citizens working together, need to restore honor and merit to our own lives.

[2] Beck, Glenn. “Restoring Honor – 8.28.10.” Glenn Beck Program. Web. 29 Aug. 2010. <http://www.glennbeck.com/828/>.