1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States Reunion in the Rotunda in 2033 - You think we wouldn't do it if necessary? Think again.

Some are in wheelchairs.

Some are using walkers.

Many more are hale and hearty. 

The High School Bicentennial Class of the United States is having a reunion.

Not all are in attendance, but they are two million strong and they have come to Washington D.C. for this reunion. 

The year is 2033 and they are, most of them, 75 years old.

They have come to grieve the loss of the nation they knew in their youth. 

And they have come armed, to teach the politicians a lesson. 

As they come by bus-loads to the Capitol grounds, the air is silent on this warm Fourth of July day. 

They have a message to deliver and they are going to have their say.  Their collective will is to say their piece.  They will not be denied.

They are the Bicentennial Class; many of them have been here but once before, on their Senior Class Trips in the spring of 1976; some have never been here before; a few work here, and they leave their desks to join their classmates as the assembly grows.

They fill the entire area, closing streets to vehicular traffic as they mass themselves quietly into one solid and united front, entering through designated checkpoints where each pauses for a moment before passing through to join the throng. 

Nobody says anything except in quiet murmurs; it has all been already said among them and their families.

The checkpoints do not allow anyone not of the Bicentennial Class to join them. 

This moment belongs to them and to them alone. 

Children and grandchildren have been left at home.

Those in wheelchairs and those who have walkers are carefully and tenderly escorted onto the main floor of the rotunda of the Capitol where they are comfortably placed. 

Others follow single file, a stately procession still silent except for the continuing quiet murmurs to one another. 

In they come, and they fill all available space, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, supporting those in front of them and supported by those behind. 

When no more will fit inside, the rest file themselves into neat rows outside. 

They are still and silent, quiet in their own selves. 

Each and all, they maintain their silence. 

They remain standing.

They won't be here for long.

One little old lady and one little old man approach a podium placed for them. 

There is no applause, no cheering, no sound whatsoever. 

The little old lady speaks into the microphone and her voice is stronger than one would expect from a woman of her years. 

‘We are the Class of 1976. 

‘We are the Bicentennial Class of the United States.

‘We have come together for this Reunion, here at the Capitol of our nation, for a reason.

‘We ‘76ers know that reason; others do not, so we will tell them.

‘We, the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States, have a message for the administrators of our government.

‘We have come to this place armed.

‘The arms which we bear are not guns, not knives, not bombs, not any of those types of things. 

‘We come armed with our voices, with our collective VOICE, which will be heard. 

‘We come armed with the Constitution of the United States and with the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States. 

‘We come armed with the knowledge and wisdom we have accumulated over the years of our lives in this nation.

‘As we, each and all, checked in upon our arrival, we, each and all, dropped off a manila envelope with the keepers at the checkpoints. 

‘As we, each and all, passed through the checkpoints, we, each and all, received another manila envelope. 

‘The envelopes we, each and all, dropped off as we entered this place contained our individual wills.

‘The envelopes we, each and all, accepted in their place contain our collective will.  These envelopes contain copies of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States.

‘We have come here with a purpose.  We shall proceed with and complete that purpose.’

The words fall distinctly and with resolve into the silence. 

After a brief moment of contemplation, the little old lady and the little old man open their envelopes. 

There is a rustle as more than two million other envelopes are also opened. 

The little old man silently steps up to the podium. 

He holds in his hands pieces of printed paper. 

He does not so much as glance at the pages as he begins to speak. 

As his voice booms through speakers, two million voices join in. 

‘We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’

There is another moment of silence, broken by rustling pages. 

The voice of the little old man continues, and the others again join in. 

‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’

As the final echo of the last words fade into silence, the little old lady joins the little old man at the podium. 

Together they stand shoulder to shoulder and face their classmates, who also stand shoulder to shoulder, two million strong in silence. 

The little old lady speaks. 

‘As you all know, the words we have just recited are the first words of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and the last words of the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States.  I mention their sources not because We the People do not know what they are, what they mean, but for those who either never knew or never cared what they are and what they mean, or have forgotten.

‘These words are our legacy.

‘First and last, the government of the United States belongs to the people, the citizens of the United States.

‘Seventy-five years ago we were born into this legacy; we did not have to fight for it – that was done by others long before our time. 

‘We, the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States, together with all other citizens of the United States, were gifted at birth with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

‘Let us not forget that we, each and all, were also born into the responsibility that goes along with those rights.’

In the silence every head bows. 

The little old man takes the podium once more. 

He faces one of the flags that are hung at intervals around the rotunda.

He places his right hand over his heart.

Two million join him.

His voice is strong and firm.  The voices that join in are strong and firm. 

‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’

As the echo of the final words fade the music of a flute begins soaring through the air. 

Two million hands remain firmly over two million hearts and two million voices join. 

‘Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?’

The flute continues quietly playing as the little old lady and the little old man step once again to the podium. 

The little old lady’s voice cracks a bit as she begins to speak. 

‘We the People of the United States, we the Bicentennial Class of 1976, have done what we set out to do today.  We have said what we wanted to say. 

‘The government of our nation is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and in the Bill of Rights our individual and collective rights as citizens are guaranteed.

‘When we leave this place we will leave also our copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights for those who have an apparent need to either learn them or refresh their memories, and we, each and all, will take back again our individual wills and continue with our individual lives, protected by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and by those newly reminded who have sworn by oath to support and defend  them as our representatives. 

‘Should they fail us, we shall come back again, and with us our families.

‘God bless us every one.’

Silently the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States parted to allow passage of their wheeled and walkered members, and filed behind them back to the checkpoints. 

Each and all, they left their copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as they collected their individual wills and returned, silent but for quiet murmurings among themselves, to the transportation waiting to return them to their individual lives.