This posting may seem premature, but I'm attempting to document changes in my perception of D.C. (even subtle ones), so here's to Sunday, March 25, 2012: Day One.
Familiarizing myself with the Capital through five or six trips over the past few years made me feel entitled to an opinion on the city's sites. However, I had only seen D.C. in daylight.
Serving as one of the city's most recognized and visited areas, I found a new appreciation for this (National Mall) tourist hot-spot in the darkness and solitude of a Sunday. Without the mass amounts of people snapping family photos, protestors screaming political frustrations, or the sun beating everyone's skin to a pulp, the monuments transformed from post-cards to emotive products of our country's past.
People have a way of forsaking history; making it seem so far gone, deeming it irrelevant before there is an end in sight. I commit this Millennial generation crime. Yet, last night in the quiet, came an echo of pertinence.
The WWII monument illuminates the loss our country endured, with each start representing thousands of (wo)men lost. It unites each State, allowing all of the columns to stand alone and tall. Yet, it encircles a body of water, which almost diminishes the height of each column.
Federalism, the complicated relationship between state governments and the national government, is as important as ever. Since the birth of our country (briefly mentioned in class today), people have questioned this delicate relationship and wondered about its properties. Today, still, theorists and scholars explore the concepts of allocation, redistribution, and stabilization, and question who should do what at which level of government.
I think seeing the WWII monument in the dark shed light on the intensity of this complicated relationship and demonstrated how it is relevant to our daily lives. We are affected by federal, national, and local policies and the success of our country depends on the efficient, effective, and equitable application of these policies.
While, the power of the National Mall is present in the daytime, it seems ever-important in the nighttime. I recommend to everyone, everywhere, to take a look at something they think they know in a different light. It may surprise you, as it did me.
Melanie Joy Kaufman
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