Washington D.C.- part of Day 2 and Day 3

As it was nearing the end of our second day, a few of us hung out on the Mall at sunset. We had been really busy in D.C. until that point and I knew that we would not be down here again tomorrow, our last day in D.C., so this was my last chance to go see the memorials. I’d never been to D.C. and I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing the Lincoln Memorial. I convinced Elisabeth and Rashina to tag along with me and we set out right at dusk. We saw the Washington Monument and were a little confused as to what it was really trying to say. How exactly was this a tribute to Washington? It’s impressive, but I’m not sure I really get it. Then we walked down to the WWII memorial, which is absolutely beautiful at night. I loved this memorial- I thought it did a beautiful job of commemorating our role in the war and the soldiers that our country lost. We started the trek towards the Lincoln Memorial.

When we got there, I was in awe- there have been many instances on this trip that I have found something to be less impressive in real life that I had been expecting, but this was not one of them. The statue of Lincoln, and the entire classical temple surrounding it, was much bigger than I’d been expecting. I wandered over to the side to read Lincoln’s second inaugural address and then over to the Gettysburg address. I didn’t expect it at all, but I had chills and was holding back tears. They are truly beautiful speeches that so eloquently yet simply capture the tragedy of the Civil War and its consequences. And to imagine someone murdering this epic figure that had written these words- I cannot fathom it. Though as Sarah Vowell says in Assassination Vacation, once you understand more about the volatile years of the Civil War, one shouldn’t be surprised that Lincoln didn’t finish his second term but rather be grateful that he made it through his first.

So as Rashina and I are standing there reading these monumental words, we are distracted by the antics of some teenagers walking past us, practically yelling and joking around with each other. As I start to pay attention to others around us, I was shocked and disgusted by the general atmosphere. People of all ages were checking their cell phones, laughing and yelling, taking goofy pictures in front of the statue- this kind of behavior in a place that is a memorial, a memorial for someone who died, a memorial for one of the greatest figures in our nation’s history who was murdered and commemorated here. We had to leave because both of us were about to lose it. This was a perfect example of how our country proclaims patriotism but it is often a false and empty patriotism. Obviously, not everyone at the memorial was behaving in such an appalling manner, but the fact that we had to leave because it was too noisy to talk shows something indeed about the level of respect many had for the place. We claim Lincoln as one of the greatest presidents ever and a symbol of hope, courage and equality…and then in the subway station, we see a figure of the white Lincoln statue in an ad for Busch Gardens where he is wearing a scuba mask and suntan lotion on his nose. Are we going to revere him or mock him? Let’s make up our minds.

However, escaping from the Lincoln Memorial to the Vietnam Veterans memorial didn’t offer any more restoration of our faith in the American people’s reverence. As we walked along Maya Lin’s beautiful memorial wall reading the names of the thousands and thousand of soldiers that died in Vietnam, we listened to the people behind us jabber on about a friend’s wedding plans and even as one of them exclaimed “whoa, that’s a funny name,” in reference to a soldier’s name. It honestly made me a little sick to my stomach, seeing the complete lack of respect for this memorial that remembers people with friends, family and lives who gave all that up to fight a war for their country. We left feeling discouraged and angry. As we were walking home though, we ended up stopping to talk to a security guard and had an amazing hour-long conversation with him, just on the side of the road, about what it means to him to be an American, and his thoughts about America today. Another amazing, memorable chance encounter that will stay with me for a long time.

Our third and final day in D.C. was more on the relaxing side. We went to Alexandria for the town’s 260th birthday celebration, only to be rained out before the festivities really began. We enjoyed walking around the “old town” area though, to see how this town combines its identities of an old historic place with the needs of its trendy, upper-tax-bracket residents. After we returned to our bus, a few of us went out to explore D.C. nightlife. More on that later as well. All in all, I thought we had a great, busy stay in our nation’s capital and I look forward to returning there to see what else D.C. has to offer because I feel like we barely scratched the surface.