Post Election DC Tour November 5 2008

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• published: 10 Nov 2008
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Joe and I took the Wednesday off after the election and did a post-election DC tour of the monuments. We saw a bald eagle flying over the Lincoln Memorial - some kind of sign? I managed to get a short video clip of the big bird before my camera chip became full and when I slowed it down on the computer, there was no mistaking it was an eagle. There is a small area underneath the memorial we never knew about with some of Lincoln's most famous quotes. Sen. Obama used one from Lincolns first inaugural address during his acceptance speech - "We are not enemies, but friends though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." The rest of the quote goes on - "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." This quote from Lincoln was also chiseled on a tablet from the 6th Lincoln / Douglas debate in 1858: "Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal." We also swung by the WWII Memorial and ran into a bunch of WWII veterans from Birmingham, Alabama flown there by Honor Flight, an organization that flys WWII vets from all over the country to see the WWII Memorial. I ran up and down the line shaking their hands and thanking them for their service to our country. They probably wondered who the heck I was! We went by the White House where they are in the midst of building the inaugural viewing stands. Some Obama supporters were getting their picture taken holding the sign "Mission Accomplished." This inauguration will also celebrate the 200th year of Lincolns birth. We also went by the Washington Monument and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. People are still leaving mementos - there were three satin lined cases with three purple hearts and other colorful medals left in front of the Wall next to an American flag. Who was the brave owner of these medals? My grandfather died in Pittsburgh in 1935, never seeing his wife again in China, and not being allowed to become a citizen of the US because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1880. The Chinese were the only ethnic group barred from entering the US, denied citizenship, and not allowed to own land. After helping build the railroads, the majority left here carved out their lives running restaurants and laundries, becoming field hands or house servants, dreaming of their families they would never see again. I think of people like my grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, African Americans slaves - who would be amazed that we as a nation could go from segregation to having an African American, son of an immigrant, become president within the next generation. My Dad was a lifelong Republican and I am sure would have voted for Sen. McCain. He spoke of the time in 1956 when he and my Mom tried to buy a house in one of the tonier areas of Pittsburgh but ended up not being an able to purchase it because one of the neighbors objected living next to someone Chinese. He said without the Civil Rights Act, the discrimination against the Chinese would have continued. We ended the day meeting Joe G. and Yuri for a beer in Rockville. Despite some snafus, we found out the next day, Yuri became a U.S. citizen! Thanks everyone, especially veterans. America is a country like no other. We have our problems, but if we work together and respect our differences, we can get through these tough times together.