Notre Dame

 Several years ago, I was hosting a 50th Birthday party for one of my sisters. I come from a VERY large family and a 'small' birthday party can include at least 30 people. So, the 'first' sister, her husband and my nephew came early to help prepare for the event. The afternoon of the party, my brother-in-law and nephew (who happens to be my age) were on the wooden deck around my pool prepping the grill for the burgers and veggies that we were cutting and seasoning inside the kitchen. My daughter walked into the kitchen and asked, "Why is there a beer in the pool?". I turned and looked outside and sure enough, a bottle of beer was bobbing in the pool near the deep end. 

The second thing I noticed was that we could only see one of my nephew's legs curled in front of him like a half of a 'criss cross applesauce'. Looking a little closer, I realized one of the wooden deck boards had rotted out and broken, leaving his left leg dangling below the deck. Luckily he was physically okay, but the deck was obviously on its last leg (pun intended). With summer approaching and visions of kids running around the deck, I knew that I would need to replace the deck with something more safe and stable.

I started researching different types of decks; wood, Trex and stone, and all the costs associated with all three. I didn't really want to replace the deck with wood because of all the maintenance and possibility that it would rot again and quickly dismissed that option. When I compared the Trex decking versus the stone, my contractor's bid for stone was essentially the same to the composite decking. I decided that the stone would likely mean less maintenance over time and was worth the slightly higher price. The wood deck and frame work was removed. A cinderblock framework was built around the back of the pool filled up much like highways are built, and then the stones were put in place over the base completing the new deck. 

For many years, the stone deck looked great. Then it started raining a lot in our area. Over a couple of years, I noticed a gap appearing in one of the corners of deck between the base and a cinderblock bench surrounding the back of the deck. As the gap widened, I started reaching out to foundation companies to see if they could stabilize the observed sinking. I didn't know it at the time, but the contractor who built the stone and cinderblock deck did not put down a cement footer/foundation! Alarming because the yard slopes behind the pool and the entire deck was essentially sinking in one corner due to this settling. Foundation companies said they would not get involved because they would not take on the liability nor have the expertise if anything were to happen to the pool or the stones on top of the deck.

Eventually, I got the name of a highly recommended pool and deck contractor to come and consult. When he came, it was easy to see he was definitely the person I needed because he was very knowledgeable about pools and spent a great deal of time going over my options. A piece of really good news was that the engineering of the actual pool was solid so I didn't have to worry. We then discussed other options for the settling around the pool deck. 

Option one was to do nothing. He didn't think the settling would affect the pool and that it would likely not move much more. 

Option two was to tear it all down, add cement footings and rebuild the deck but that would be costly. 

Option three was to tear it all down and just build something much smaller to cover the back of the pool. 

We discussed all three scenarios while circling the pool and deck several times and then out of the blue, I had an epiphany: in many churches across Europe, and specifically Notre Dame in Paris, flying buttresses secured to the exterior of the cathedrals, support the walls.  This helped engineers from hundreds of years ago build ceilings higher and higher since the walls were so well supported. 

My contractor agreed that it would help, so now I had my solution! 

I recently took a trip to Paris, France and on my 60 to Sixty list was a visit the Notre Dame Cathedral to see how it had changed after the fire of April 15, 2019. The fire destroyed a large part of the roof and the flèche (arrow) or spirelet. I, like many around the world, watched in disbelief as the flames shot up through the roof sending smoke clouds billowing across Paris and beyond.

I have been to Paris a few times and can't remember a time that I did not at least see Notre Dame while walking around the city. The flying buttresses are impossible to miss. As a history and French teacher, I love to read about historical structures such as Notre Dame and imagine all the people, famous and not, who have wondered the streets of Paris and into and out of this cathedral.

The April 2019 fire broke out in a remote area of the roof of the Notre Dame cathedral destroying the wooden spire, most of the wooden roof and damaging upper walls. The vaulted stone ceiling contained the burning roof as it collapsed. This prevented extensive damage to the interior and the buttresses, of course, supported the walls on the outside. Many of the works of art and religious relics were moved to safety and the altar, pipe organs and the rose windows from the 13th Century had little or no damage. The cathedral was closed and French President Macron set a five-year deadline to restore the cathedral. 

A little history about the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cornerstone of the Gothic church was laid in 1163. It took almost 200 years to build and over the course of the construction, many architects were involved as well as church and political leaders to get the cathedral built. Well known names in France including King Louis VII, Pope Alexander III, Bishop Maurice de Sully, Jean de Chelles, Pierre de Montreuil, Louis XIV, Hardouin Mansart and Robert de Cotte. Also, Napoleon, Jean-Baptiste Lassus, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc and Andre Malraux. All these people and more had a hand in the construction or renovations of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Whether from the nave, choir, transepts, pipe organ to rose windows, these and hundreds of skilled workers from the past and present with literal blood sweat and tears in the making of the cathedral.

After the fire, there was much discussion about the rebuilding effort. Bringing about controversy in many areas including whether or not the cathedral should be rebuilt. Even after nearly $900 million was raised across the world to rebuild, some believed that the money would be better spent on other more needy programs. 

Controversy crept in, is the restored interior color too bright or should some of the ancient rose windows be replaced with more contemporary ones. There was much debate about materials to be used for the new spire sitting atop the cathedral. In the end, the French National Assembly passed a law requiring that the restoration had to preserve the historic, artistic and architectural interest of the monument. This left some issues open to interpretation. Many artisans were used crafting the replacement parts of the building using techniques from hundreds of years ago while also introducing building advancements in hopes that events like the fire in 2019, would not happen again. 

Notre Dame in January 2026:

I have been thinking lately about the fact that we are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States and how similarly the Notre Dame cathedral took almost 200 years to build. For many in the US and around the world, the US was a symbol of liberty and 'American exceptionalism', the 'City on the Hill'. Sadly, it seems that reputation is faltering, figuratively it is on fire. Like the construction of the Notre Dame, we have our founding fathers or 'architects of our country' along with many improvements building on that foundation. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams, John Jay and many others were the architects of our Constitution. Along the way, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Lyndon Johnson, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, Sarah Weddington, Linda Coffee and many, many others played roles in crafting laws and Amendments to the Constitution. Some of these changes were the result of 'We the People' taking action and making sure our voices were heard by those in power.

Like the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral, we are going to have to look back to secure our Constitution by removing some rotted laws and precedents by using tried and true means and also think outside the box to find strategies and laws that will actually secure the promises of the Constitution 'with Liberty and Justice for all'. 

In a world of short attention spans, quick fixes and instant gratification, we must realize that it is going to take years to repair the damage done to our democracy. Some of the repairs are going to take skilled statesman to repair our relationship with our allies and some of the fixes are going to need to be immediate to shore up the country; scaffolding  that will secure the right to vote, make it easier not harder to have our voices heard, passing laws for restrictions on criminals running for office, having better oversight and strengthening the checks and balances that we already have in the Constitution.

Something I believe many people can agree on is that 'We the People' are much like the flying buttresses. It was events like Bloody Sunday, Birmingham bus boycott, Stonewall Uprising, Black Lives Matter and Minneapolis peaceful protests, We the people, helping to bring about change. Also, everyone realizing how important it is to vote because your vote is your voice. Over and over again in the past special elections and the mid-term primaries, the message seems clear that people want our democracy saved and built back better.

Norm Eisen on the Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg today said, "It should be profoundly reassuring, shouldn't it, Simon, for people who are fearful about 2026. And we should be at the edge of our chairs. We should be ready. We should be prepared. But the power of the voters is still the ultimate guardrail."

It took firefighters, engineers, craftsman and many others to put out the burning Notre Dame Cathedral and rebuild it in 6 years. The US is still 'burning' so we need 'firefighters' to help end the destruction and 'engineers', 'craftsman', stateswomen and statesmen to rebuild and strengthen our democracy.  The buttresses saved Notre Dame from completely collapsing and they secured the deck around my pool from sinking. Whether voters are called guardrails, buttresses, scaffolding or whatever support system that comes to mind, We Are The People and it is our time to show up and fight to secure our democracy from further and future destruction.