the soapbox
11 August 2007
Lightning Bugs
As I made my way through the park at dusk this evening, on my way home from Union Station, a light caught my eye in my peripheral vision. In the middle of the nation’s governmental metropolis, a sole lightning bug danced in the growing evening. It was a subtle reminder that even in the midst of such urban sprawl, one can find something as fascinatingly simple as a lightning bug. A little bit of home all the way down here.
Last night, I decided it was time to learn how to get home from Union Station. From there, it is a straight (and short) red line Metro to work. Previously, I had been taking a convoluted trek from Eastern Market, on an Orange/Blue line. I knew it wasn’t much farther to walk to Union Station and the extra exercise every day would be just about as good as the savings on the Metro. So, I exited the train and forced myself to find a way home. And I did, though it was a bit trying at times.
Tonight was the first time I could truly enjoy the walk home. When I lived in Philadelphia, I was awed by the depth of history. I remember going to church one day with a friend and having them point out where Franklin and Washington used to sit so many years ago. Tonight, that same sense of awe crept in as I realized the magnitude of my new commute.
To my right, I could see the capital building lit up just a couple hundred meters away. To my
immediate left, a massive expansive building with Grecian columns peered down at me as it had
countless Americans before. “Equal Justice For All” read the inscription across the front of the
building. A woman, Athena I presume, sat with a sword in her right hand and a balanced scale in
her left peering out from the marble or concrete, alerting passersby that true justice was doled out
here. I stared for several minutes, pondering the irony and recognizing the important work
we all have to do to ensure that equal justice for all truly happens, and that justice for a select few
does not become the precedent that future generations look back upon.
As I proceeded between the two bodies of the government, I walked by the Library of Congress, the
Jefferson Building. Last weekend, I toured it to find the interior architecture, mosaics, paintings and
murals nothing short of breathtaking. Its sole purpose is to collect and share knowledge, regardless of
whether that knowledge is legal, artistic or even about cooking. I was quite blown away by the
magnificence of the building.
Our tour guide brought us to a small hideaway section of the library where several paintings had been
drawn at the start of this building. One showed government in its authentic state with the tree of
wisdom growing happily behind her, the economy flourishing and the people learned. Subsequent
paintings depicted different stages of government, one in which the tree of wisdom was nearly
dead and government was about to set fire to it. The concrete holding up government was crumbling
from corruption and businesses were squirreling away money from unjust business deals. Others
showed how a strong government foretold a strong economy and a utopian society where folks
enjoyed prosperity and knowledge.
So many years later, it hits so hard seeing what our forefathers truly meant
by good government, that of being of the people, by the people and for the people. I was moved by
these murals painted so long ago, and frankly it was the only time our tour guide seemed to really get
into what she talked about. It inspired her each time she talked about it, something that really shined
through.
It is my rule that I visit at least one museum each weekend so that I can truly take in all the
aspects that our nation’s capital provides for its citizens, and not take for granted the city and the
government our forefathers carved out for us.
This new route to work ensures that while I am still (relatively) young, I can enblazen the
importance of the checks and balances that are to occur with all three branches of government. It
is critical to our future that neither branch be undermined by another, something that has begun to
happen, particularly with the Supreme Court.
Equal Justice For All… a reminder every morning and every evening why it is we do what we do every day.