The three of us took a trip to Washington DC during thanksgiving week. I was pleasantly surprised to find so much culture, beautiful fall weather, and friendly officials, except for the police officer on a bike who grumpily waited for me to leave the park by the White House while I was replying to my sisters about diet choices on WhatsApp, paying no attention to my surroundings. And did I remind you that the museums are free in DC?!
We walked everywhere, 20k steps a day, and learned so much of US history. The country was founded on great principles and all around the fellowship of men were engraved, which one don’t see, as countries tend to glorify one man as the savior. The trip coincided with me reading War and Peace, and Tolstoy explains the human craving for glory, how we, each of us, are driven by a desire to be loved by all, and how these emperors were loved, like celebrities of today, and he mentions while the glories are attributed to one man, they are much more complex than that, and every single person on the field makes a contribution to the outcome, and sometimes it is the weather, a misunderstanding or just leaving one’s city behind collectively that strangely helps win a war. Of course one man/woman can make a difference, but mostly because others believe in him and share his/her convictions, and he/she embodies everything one aspires to be. The point is America didn’t choose monarchy and live in the shadow of one man, in a time when it would have been a natural course. They, instead, wanted democracy; freedom and equality.
On the other hand it was just men, well white men, that were the decision makers in the beginning. So that is the missing piece, because women, and people of color all contributed to the foundation of the country however indirectly they may have. But that also changed, and the museums emphasize that. The women’s suffrage were highlighted, especially since it is the 100th year anniversary of women getting the right to vote in US, and many women were honored for their contributions. Martin Luther King Jr memorial was inspiring. In the National Portrait Gallery, I especially liked Barack Obama’s and Michele Obama’s portraits.
The struggle continues today, yet there is hope, all the effort will amount to something sooner or later. We all want to be included and represented and celebrated with the rest of our fellow beings in the society we are in.
We walked, talked, learned, took tons of pictures, we laughed, we argued, we ate, and after 4.5 days we came back home. Coming home is always special, always beautiful. There is something about sleeping in one’s own bed regardless of how comfortable a hotel room is.
Are we the same 3 that left I wonder. Have we changed? My predominant worry remains the same; the well-being of my parents. And we already went to a soccer tournament, so we are back to our routine. But at the same time, I’m more American than I was before this trip; I understand how this society was founded, its hopes and dreams, and how it works, better now than before the trip. Yet that doesn’t make me any less Turkish. It is complex, and I don’t understand it myself but the society we are in influences our psyche and this trip expanded my perceptions and gave me hope, despite the current events that somehow mirrors Turkey’s recent past, for a collective future.
Photo taken by Ant Vance.
