COLUMN: What is missed in the hustle of life
What are we willing to forget? Could we choose to forget the first kiss we ever had or the shame-ridden argument which still separates us from a loved one? As a nation, could we choose to forget the love we possessed for President Kennedy or the pain we felt for his assassination? What do we forget?
Are birthdays, anniversaries and holidays only remembered for their annual recurrences? And what does it take to remember something that only happens once in a lifetime? Yesterday, today and tomorrow can only happen once for us individually and as a people.
Walking around the District of Columbia the past few weeks has helped key me into the unnatural vibe of the nation. Unnatural because it’s isolated. When I get the chance, I see tourists from all around the United States walking around the district in awe of their surroundings. Sometimes I try to go out and ‘play tourist’ so I can know what I’m missing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
I see men and woman dressed to the nine in their professional attire with heads down, in newspapers or on the phone – we just pass by. Every day there are masses of people running around Washington, D.C., literally soaking in the sights while another even larger group of people, the residents, just walk by without a moment’s hesitation.
We choose to pass through all the monuments, the etchings of history or honors to humanity. The visitors move with rapt attention from one historical marker to the next while the rest of us merely pass through.
Unfortunately, most people treat life and history just like that. We walk on as if nothing is affecting us.
People outside the world of this state of D.C. (that is a state like a phase, not a state like Utah with voting rights) only take dips into this world through available news agencies. Being here, there is an available reminder of problems past and present, triumphs wished for or celebrated.
Do suffering and pain only rest briefly in our short term memory? Do prosperity and joy slowly ebb away from conscious thought? Without effort, I’m sure that is exactly what happens. Why does it take extreme pain or prosperity for us to perk up our senses, lift our eyebrows and put an ear to the ground? There’s a story coming our way. We’re all characters in this story. His-story. Her-story. It’s our-story.
But most of us are just passing through history.
Just last night, I walked by a small but intricate monument dedicated to Gen. George Meade. With his statue surrounded by soldiers and an angel bearing the American seal, he is honored for leading Union troops during the nation’s most turbulent time. Only when people stop to look up and see his face and look down to read the plaque is he honored. He is entombed by the ingratitude of the masses who pass by him without a moment’s notice or prayer of thanks. He sits enshrined with the golden seal held above his head by symbolic wings but overshadowed by the noise and traffic streaming by him and his brigade.
What Meades do we pass by on occasion? Are there any Lincoln memorials willing to sit us upon their knees and teach us a lesson in their own room? History is happening all around us if we’re willing to listen, watch or read what comes to us. Will you just pass through?
With its 10 square miles of land, reticently given by Virginia and Maryland, the District of Columbia is separated from all the states in the union as a political and historical island.
Should this union survive, the city will continue to grow to be an even larger center for humanity’s accomplishments and failures. Should the government fail or the city come to ruin, its remains would stand centuries later to rival the memories of Rome and Egypt. Its position in modern history is unique. And so is ours.
In all this rhetorical talk, I forgot an important lesson in history: When you come to visit the nation’s capital, don’t try and sit on Lincoln’s knee. It doesn’t rest well with the park police.
Jacob Fullmer is a junior in political science and journalism, trying to figure out what history really means while living in Washington, D.C. Questions and comments can be sent to him at j.fullmer@aggiemail.usu.edu.