Mythical Cities: Part I

Earlier this year, if you had asked me how I was liking Washington DC, I would have put on my best fake smile and said, “Well, it’s certainly not New York or Boston.” Meaning, this city is by far my least favorite on the Delta Shuttle flight path. Meaning, I hate that every time I get in a cab I feel like I’m getting ripped off because fares are dictated by amorphous things called “zones” and the colorful map stuck to the back of the passenger seat has no street labels, so I’m completely powerless to tell how many zones I’ve passed through by the end of the trip. Meaning, I hate the car culture of the city and how unfriendly it is to pedestrians (so unfriendly that I got hit by a car in the second month of living here). Meaning, I dislike the transitory nature of the place. Meaning, I think John F. Kennedy was right when he said DC had all the charm of a northern city and all the efficiency of a southern one. Meaning, I had scribbled a whole two page hate list in my journal and a particularly dark day.

I’ve been here eight months now and I’m coming around. Of course, it helps that spring in DC is beautiful – tulips, azaleas, pansies, violets, daffodils, lilacs, bright grass, and of course, the cherry blossoms. But aside from the greenery, there’s the quietness of the place, and the monuments. Since I’ve moved closer to the Mall, my morning runs take me by this, and this. For the past two mornings I’ve passed by this, and if I’m going to keep running along these paths, I better learn how to run even when verklempt, or learn how to stop getting teary when I see these tributes to people and events that have shaped our nation. I’m enjoying being reminded of the history of the United States everyday.

It’s pretty neat, and pretty powerful to stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, thinking about the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and look down past the reflecting pool, past the Washington Monument, to the Capitol (just as thousands and thousands of other people have done). I take comfort in these immediate, bricks and mortar reminders that this country has weathered some very tumultuous times, and survived with its democracy in tact. The US is still a great place to live, one that’s full of incredible opportunities and freedoms that don’t exist elsewhere. It’s a fortifying to remember, especially when I read material like this.