Sunday, November 25, 2007

from D.C.: patriotic

I’m not that, if patriotism means saying that your country is the best of the best. I don’t even know what that means. Good people, making good decisions? Until the moment when they mess up?

My father once said – I am a citizen of the world. I feel the same loyalty to the planet. And to the community that I live in, wherever that may be. I dislike nationalism (even though I respect tradition). I detest pronouncements of superiority, even as I believe some principles are superior to others.

So basically, I’m not one of those who goes around saying I am proud to be a Pole or an American, even though at times I am proud and at other times I am ashamed of what the governments in either have accomplished.

Still, here I am in D.C., and I haven’t confronted on Ocean the very essence of the city. I have yet to post a single photo of its uniqueness as a nation’s capital. Here, more than anywhere else, you see the progression of governance. The monuments force you into this exercise: think back and remember those who left their mark.

Tonight, I took my camera and strolled among the shadows of the monuments. I circled the Washington Monument, I acknowledged the Capitol. I paused for a longer while at the new to me Monument to World War II, I gave a nod to the Lincoln Memorial and I passed with a deep sigh in front of the White House.

I’m going to post some photos from all this. They nudged me toward giving more than a passing thought to citizenship, government and the country I now call home. Here you go: D.C. monuments, one November evening, through Ocean eyes.


018 copy
child's play



026 copy
at the end of the day



028 copy
November trees



031 copy
people, flags



021 copy
two cyclists, the Capitol



044 copy
Lincoln, ducks

2 comments:

  1. I am a citizen of the world - yes. Me too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nina,
    I like your blog and the pictures in it. Thanks for sharing.
    Quoted you in my quotes collection
    (http://penumbra.tumblr.com) in its dec 6 entry. Hope its okay. Made link too. Will come back to your blog every now and then.

    ReplyDelete

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