I’m still trying to get back into the groove after spending last week on vacation at the beach, and still cringe every time I even look at the pile of mail in my inbox. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to shake a few impressions I had from my trip. We decided to take a side trip to D.C. on the way to Ocean City, and spent Monday wandering about the National Mall.
It was depressing to see the state of the reflecting pool, and I couldn’t help wondering how bad it will have to get before they’ll try to keep the geese away - what was meant to be a clear blue pool of water is now clouded brown. The other monuments in general are in good condition, though.
When we started at the Jefferson Monument, I thought we had come across a tour group from overseas, since we passed a few buses on the way there. The more we walked, the more I realized that we were in the minority. Before I quit counting, I noticed over a dozen different languages being spoken by the people around us.
I understand that our capital is a popular tourist destination for people the world over, but the more I thought about it, I began to realize that it really isn’t as popular as it once was for people in this country. Americans tend to take the place for granted, and more and more, I hear that many people have no interest whatsoever in visiting it. We take the city and its historical monuments for granted, and that attitude bleeds through to our impressions about our leaders.
Those monuments have statements about the high ideals that were the basis of our nation inscribed on their walls, but they are read more often by foreigners these days. From many points in the National Mall it is difficult to get even a glimpse of Capitol Hill or the White House, which made me think that our leaders could easily overlook those white and black granite monuments as they go about their business each day, instead of keeping them in mind when making decisions that affect us all.
The Jefferson Memorial in particular is one that should come to mind for them all the time now, assuming that they’ve bothered to read the inscriptions there. “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” As an atheist, swearing to any god is meaningless, but making an oath of hostility against tyranny over the mind is something I can definitely agree with. Perhaps that should have been repeated a few times on the floor of Congress and the Senate when the Patriot Act was under consideration - might have helped a bit during debates (or lack thereof) on No Child Left Behind as well.
I have no illusions that the men memorialized in the National Mall were herculean on any level - they had their faults just like anyone else, and undoubtedly were guilty of some amount of hypocrisy. Historians have a way with making such things disappear into mists of time, leaving future generations with idealized versions of former leaders. But that doesn’t mean that current leaders don’t need to aspire to reach the lofty levels granted those who have benefited from historians’ generalizations.
This election year had already been depressing to me before visiting D.C. - now it is even worse. My cynicism is in overdrive. We’re about a week away from the Democratic Convention, and all the buzz is about what Obama will say in his acceptance speech. I don’t envy his camp, because they have a great deal of history to compete with when writing for him, but at the same time, I’m at least a little hopeful that research might make them focus a bit more on the historical nature of the present. I don’t mean the fact that he’s the first non-white presidential candidate with even a ghost of a chance of winning either. The people need to hear how much they are neglecting their nation - how much of our current situation is our own fault. We’ve been lazy, apathetic, and have given up far too many of our rights and responsibilities. Maybe Obama will have the nerve to say that… but I doubt it.
