Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Not exactly live blogging the rebroadcast of We Are One

When I checked to see if I could get HBO today, I found out that I could have watched it live. D'oh...

I am watching now. And Caleb Green, the Master Sergeant who sang the national anthem? I've seen him sing that a million times. He's a regular at sporting events around here.

And it hit me.

The Lincoln Memorial, to me, is a place to use the rest room before a bike ride on the Rock Creek trail.

Every spring, I get annoyed by the tourists who show up and can't use the farecard machines. It mystifies me why they come...what is so special about my hometown, that people feel compelled to show up and screw up traffic? Can't they go to Disney World or something?

A few years ago, I met a woman who'd moved to D.C. from California to go to college. Her first trip here, she was surprised to find neighborhoods and grocery stores. She said it never occurred it her that people live here.

I err in the other direction. It doesn't occur to me that people around the world see the monuments and memorials as symbolic of America, freedom, democracy. It feels dorky for me to even type it. But I'm finding myself getting a little misty-eyed, and feeling oddly proud, watching this show.

I imagine that Tuesday will be this times a hundred.

I'm even less upset about the traffic.

Posted by Nic at January 18, 2009 07:25 PM | TrackBack