Tourist season is in full bloom here in DC. Madison and I “guided” some out of town guests last night to see the Vietnam Wall, The Korean Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial and we even walked right up to the White House gates.
We went through the Vietnam Wall behind a noisy group of teenagers. They were probably here on some kind of class trip (please say it wasn’t a church youth group trip) and mistook the walk for the main event. Not one of the teens ever looked at the wall. I am not kidding. A few of the teens were talking on cell phones the rest were talking to each other. They walked straight ahead, right through the memorial and not once did anyone look to the left to actually see the wall. I‚Äôve worked with teens. I am not down on teens. They might have had a long day. Who knows what was going on. It was just so blatantly obvious they would rather be doing something else.
Madison and I sat on the top step of the Lincoln Memorial while our guests were inside viewing the statue and the engraved words of Lincoln. Let me tell you, sitting on that top step looking at the city at night with the Washington Monument shining in the reflecting pool is quite a sight. After a while Madison asked me what was going on with those teens in that group back at the wall. She wanted to know why you would come all this way to see these things and be so disrespectful. She wanted to know if those kids realized that wall represented people who died for our freedoms.
I’m glad she was aware of what was happening. Even negative behavior can teach a positive lesson. Even more so, I’m glad she’s learning to be grateful.
