Stone Mountain
I rode the sky lift to the top of Stone Mountain. Admittedly the whole experience was not true to my expectations. The heights terrified me. Dangling helplessly from a cable in an aluminum box with thirty other people only intensified the panic. I grasped the rail firmly, and marveled at the four children next to me giggling as we ascended more than four thousand feet up the ominous mountain. (Aren’t little kids supposed to be timid, especially of new and grandiose things?)
Atop the largest piece of exposed granite in the world I took a breath, and then started taking in all the activity. Americans and foreign visitors alike were engaged in various activities. Some explored the rock and others sat alone. While most milled about in the cool autumn breeze, the lovers sought small formations of wind-blown granite for privacy. Even if they were not alone they pretended to be.
While I strolled about the top, a thought occurred to me: who of this Earth would not wish to walk along the summit of a mountain on a beautiful day such as this? The vista seemed endless. Stone Mountain Park, an astonishing creation, is a wonderland of capitalism, in the same vein as Disneyland. Despite the contrived modernism of the park, after only an hour or so I am defeated and utterly enchanted.
As I write these words, a bee has come to rest on my yellow pad and crawling along the granite is an orange butterfly. To the west is downtown Atlanta. It is shrouded in hazy pollution. The clouds stretch endlessly beneath the perfect afternoon sun. And just maybe it is a little reassuring to have the stalwart figures of Stonewall, Lee, and Davis rolling out beneath me, keeping this rock from crumbling.
Below the giant relief of the Confederate heroes stretches a park and short path. Etched in the stones is information concerning the secession of states from the Union, their admission to the Confederacy, and their subsequent readmission to the Union. In less than an hour I’ve learned so much. But even more interesting to me are the many quotes from the grandest figures of American history. Never doubt the ability of humans to stir emotions and send a young man to battle with such words as honor, equality, virtue, morality,
necessity, glory, integrity, principle, opportunity, promise, duty, liberty, prosperity, compassion, and obligation. In all these rocks not one occurrence of the word “love.” I did, however, glimpse a “love” or two in the graffiti covering many of the stones located alongside the path down Stone Mountain.
Don’t get me wrong, Stone Mountain is a great place. Here Americans rejoice, but other than listless lovers on the rocks, it does not evoke the spirit of life intrinsic in nature and the earth. At Stone Mountain you will only find your national pride and perhaps a great Fourth of July toast. I anticipated a little more solace as I searched for a place to ponder what I must do for the woman I hold dear to regard me as highly as she does Robert E. Lee. I guess I don’t quite understand it, at least not one hundred percent. (Somebody poured asphalt in the wind hollows of the rock!)