10/21/2011
Aaron CarrollThere’s something about Washington, DC. Every time I come here, I feel slightly better about the future of our country. I think it has to do with how open everything seems. Yesterday, I walked through the Department of Health and Human Services, and saw a number of recognizable people in government. Today, while walking to a tour, we passed the Departments of the Treasury, Agriculture, and Commerce, the White House, and the Old Executive Building.
Maybe it’s me, and maybe it’s cliche, but seeing all of those places, and pointing them out to my kids, made government seem more real. It made it seem more personal. We don’t have a government where all the officials work in a walled castle, removed from the rest of us. You can walk right up to the buildings. You can see the people. It’s real.
We were cutting across the mall near the Washington monument, and I told my daughter to run to the top of the hill and see what was there. She excitedly called for her brothers to come up and see, too. I caught a picture:
That’s got to be worth at least a thousand words.
by Frank de Libero on October 21st, 2011 at 17:44
What you describe is reverence. (Sorry for misposting this earlier.)
by Bill Corfield (Bill in Dayton) on October 21st, 2011 at 19:50
I suspect the image will be blown up, framed and hung prominently in the Carroll household, eh?
by Mara Floyd on October 22nd, 2011 at 10:26
Great picture!
I too felt great hope when we visited Washington in 2008. As we walked by the White House, there were war protestors and a group from Africa assembled peacefully. Our family discussed that the American People put the president in office here. This wasn’t his house, this was OUR house.
by Aaron G on October 24th, 2011 at 12:06
Isnt your post the exact reason why the 10th admendment exists? Hard to feel your government is real when it is washington. Easy to get things done with your mayor or state representative.