How a weekend trip to DC restored some of my hope in our future.
Reading, watching, or listening to the news nowadays can be draining. It seems like many people are incessantly frustrated about what is - or is not - happening in the nation’s capital. Coverage depicts people clashing, voices escalating, accusations flying, and pundits painting dystopian visions of our future. The respectful exchange of ideas sometimes seems like it is becoming the exception, not the rule.
Even as someone who lived in DC for a few years and has had many wonderful experiences there, like a lot of Americans, I still have the images of the Capitol on January 6 burned in my memory.
It’s easy to think that the divisiveness of today’s political landscape doesn’t inspire hope as much as it does exhaustion.
These were the dynamics contributing to my mild case of skittishness about what and who I’d encounter when I visited Washington, DC in April 2024.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
In a few short days hitting some of the district’s busiest tourist hotspots, what I observed wasn’t people muttering profanities or wandering around disinterested. What I saw was people of all ages digging in and enthusiastic about the institutions that are the backbone of our nation.
Smiling people who wanted to have their photos taken in front of the US Capitol, people willing to wait in line to see our founding documents. I even heard a teenager, who had the looks of being a “cool kid,” share his approval after his visit to the Library of Congress and seeing Thomas Jefferson’s personal library that is housed in the building that bears his name.
These people weren’t discouraged or distressed, they were curious and upbeat. They were passionate about seeing our history. Seeing their enthusiasm boosted my positivity about our shared future.
It’s easy to get caught up in a news cycle that often draws on conflict and controversy to satisfy its 24/7 coverage and has colloquially adopted the mantra “if it bleeds it leads.” But that isn’t the reality. And it isn’t healthy for people or a democracy.
The beautiful spring weather with blue skies and cherry blossoms probably didn’t hurt my mood during our trip, and surely the people who choose to visit these transformational sites may not be a truly representative group, but rather than leaving Washington a few days later exhausted from divisiveness and disagreement, I still left exhausted but felt hopeful.
(For photos of the blue skies, cherry blossoms and other traditional DC sites, check out my Flickr album.)
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