We decided a couple of days ago to take a family trip to Washington DC. My wife went online, got us an amazing deal on a hotel, and now here we are on a Saturday morning two blocks from the White House. As I look out my window I see a bunch of semi-modern buildings and the Washington Monument peeking out above.
About eleven last night my son and I stepped out to walk around and see what sights we could within walking distance. We walked over towards the Executive Mansion, but found all the good picture angles blocked by the remaining flotsam and jetsam of the inauguration. Washington, in the right areas, has an amazing, maybe deceptively safe feel about it. Of course more police patrol the periphery of the White House than are on duty at any one time in our Potomac Highlands towns.
We walked around to the front and looked at the usual view. The lights had been turned off, bringing a shroud of darkness over the building. A young urban intellectual looking couple walked behind us. The guy pulled out a twenty dollar bill to see if it looked like the building sitting a hundred and fifty yards or so away. They walked on and we remained, looking.
One light burned in the top floor. We speculated, is that the President's light on? It makes you wonder about the person sitting in that lone light. Is he still enjoying the afterglow of being elected president? Has the actual burden of office set in yet? We saw it in President Bush's face these last few weeks. He owned the weight of the world and looked glad to hand it off to another. Sooner or later, Obama will understand the man he bashed for so many months, the same man who treated him with such grace and class since November.
Then we walked to the Mall. At the Washington Monument a few kids stood in front of the harsh lights using their bodies to make shadow puppets. My ten year old son asked what the job of Congress was. I responded by telling him how they made the laws and the president's part in vetoing or allowing legislation to pass, explaining that Dave Sypolt (who Jared has met many times) did the same thing in West Virginia.
Our next stop on the walking tour was the amazing World War II Memorial. It has its own grandeur, especially at night with the soft lights. My son begged to walk to the Lincoln Memorial and so we trudged westward. Along the way we passed a huge group of high school kids belting out "Don't Stop Believin'" which is as good an anthem for this generation to adopt as any.
Well, it's morning. We should be heading over to the Capitol this afternoon for a tour, hitting the Holocaust Museum as well as the Smithsonian.
Washington DC is far from a perfect place and the most important man here is not the guy I voted for. That all being said, this is to Americans what Mecca is to Muslims, Jerusalem is to Jews, and Rome is to Catholics. This is the center of freedom for our nation and the world. The ideals behind this town have revolutionized the planet since the days when this was a swampy and usually uncomfortably hot forest. The standard of humanity is not if people should be free, it is how to get them to that condition. For that we can thank a long line of great men from Washington to George W. Bush. We also hope and pray that the current administration cherishes freedom here and abroad in the same manner as most of his predecessors.
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