Places 3 – Washington, D.C. Memorials

It’s so nice being within commuting distance of Our Nation’s Capital.  For a photographer of places and things, Washington, D.C. is hard to beat.  The heroic buildings, monuments and memorials are a treat and a challenge if you want to get them just right.  I need to learn who said this first but I like this advice for the shooter – the photographer’s objective is not to shoot something that has never been seen before but to show something familiar in a way we have never seen before.  I am not that good.

Anyway, the latest trip to D.C. was to show recent high school graduate nephew Devin the city for the first time.  Labor Day meant that we could drive in and park right in front of the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History just before it opened at 10 AM…a sweet little treat for those of you who know what driving and parking in D.C. is like.  We had a fine half day after that as we walked from the Jefferson Memorial through the WW II, Viet Nam and Korean War Memorials.  To think that there were soldiers who served in all three conflicts boggles the mind.

We then visited the newly-opened Martin Luther King Memorial.  It was supposed to be dedicated on August 28 but Hurricane Irene postponed the event. 

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2011)

This was the reason the lower half of the Mall was packed with cars…so many African-American families wanted to be there.  People looked satisfied that this memorial existed.  There were many folks having their pictures taken in front of the statue and the inscriptions on the wall.  That was powerful to witness.

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2011)

However, it was the last stop of the day that gave me pause.  The memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt is close to the MLK Memorial.  It is a sprawling representation of his four terms in heavy stone and waterfalls, with the occasional bronze sculpture and select quotes carved into the walls.  It is a place that is cool and shady in the summer and profound all year long. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2005)

With our country struggling, our political system foul beyond description and the president about to give an important speech on the economy and jobs, I found the words of the president who had the worst depression in the nation’s history handed to him most telling.  You would think even the Genghis Khan wing of the GOP would agree with these words or at least see what happens to a nation when people who want to work are unable to.

I’m afraid the president’s speech will fall flat and short of expectations.  I could rant on about what’s wrong and what should be done and who’s not doing it but I’ll just show the words from 75 years ago.  Besides, when I go off like that, it only threatens to reduce my already thin readership numbers. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. (5 September 2005)

Next to the depression breadline sculpture are the following words, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much.  It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”  I find it hard to argue with what that Old-Money, upper class guy said three quarters of a century ago.

Let’s hope the Administration and Congress do something right this time.