It was a memorable day that we spent
in Washington DC, which itself is full of memorials for the dead and the alive.
On a bright day, early morning my brother, his wife and I boarded the tourist
bus by Grey Line to the place.
Arlington National Cemetery
First place to stop was Arlington
National Cemetery encompassing some 624 acres. One can never imagine the huge
number of crosses erected in the memory of the soldiers and officers who had
died in the various wars of USA. There were 400,000 of them, row after row,
sending an ominous message, ‘People die in war. Victory is not without price.
There is a human cost to any war.’ What touched me here was the fact that when
the wife of the veteran died her name gets inscribed at the back of the tomb
stone, so also any minor children dying before their time. That I thought was
beautiful and very sentimental.
Grave stone of Jaqueline Kennedy
We also saw the graves of John F.
Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, brothers Robert F. Kennedy, Ted
Kennedy and Joe Kennedy – almost the whole family of Kennedys was there. What
impressed me was the simplicity of their graves: just one granite slab was
there to mark each of their burial places, with their names inscribed on the
top of it. Many coins, pennies have been thrown on these slabs, result of
superstition of the visitors over the years!
John F. Kennedy's grave stone
Next we walked on the National Mall
which houses the Memorial to Abraham Lincoln, World War II, Vietnam veterans
and so on. It is a spread out beautiful park with the Lincoln Memorial on one
end, followed by the Washington Monument, which is the iconic Obelisk, leading
to the Reflecting Pool and the other monuments.
Lincoln Memorial is a stately white
building with columns, built in 1922, in honor of Abraham Lincoln, the
President who unified the country after the civil war, which was fought to
emancipate the slaves. It is proudly said that America is the only country
which went to war to abolish slavery.
Lincoln Memorial
It is built in Doric Architectural
style, mimicking the colonnades of Ancient Greece on Pantheon. It is an
unmistakable Greek revival architecture recalling the freedom which the City
States of Athens and some other Greeks cities gave to their citizens in running
their government. The early American fathers who wrote the constitution of
their country were definitely impressed by the system of governance in Ancient
Greece.
Washington Monument - the obelisk
The Obelisk itself was built in 1888
to commemorate George Washington, the First President of America, and is still
the highest structure in Washington DC. The Reflecting Pool and the Obelisk
stand as silent witness to many great events of the nation, starting from the
oath-taking of the new Presidents to the rallies organized by various eminent
leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, who fought for civil rights of the
Colored people.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the
next place we visited, which was also in the National Mall itself. It has been
established in 1982, in memory of the US armed forces which fought in the
Vietnam War of the 70s. More than 58,000 names of soldiers who either lost
their lives in the war or lost have been inscribed here. It is written in the
background, “Freedom is not free.” True, for the freedom of future generations
these brave soldiers had laid down their lives.
Whether the Vietnam war itself was
right or wrong and whether America should have participated in it just to ward
off the influence of the Communist Russia or not, are not the questions I would
want to debate on. In the final tally, people had died, families lost their sons,
fathers, bread-winners and women, mothers and wives lost their sons or husbands
and children grew up father-less. That is important. Will this madness ever end?
Fighting over religion, over ideologies, over trade and over power? May be not,
not as long as the world as we know lasts. Only in the Kingdom of God which will
be ushered in by Jesus Christ in his Second Coming, can we expect such a scenario
of peace and real freedom.
Korean War Veterans Memorial
Then we passed through the Korean War
Veterans Memorial, established in 1995, where again life size statues of soldiers
in their full combat dress are standing as mute witnesses of horrors of yet another
war. There was also National World War II Memorial, established in 2004, in a semicircular
manner in the outdoors.
National World War II Memorial
It left me wondering, is there any one
place in India where we have such memorial for those who laid their lives to protect
the freedom of those who are living now? I cannot recall any, except some well maintained
World War I memorials spread across the country, maintained by World authorities.
I remember seeing one in Calcutta, next to the CNI (Church of North India), burial
ground, where my dear elder brother lies buried. What prevents us from making such
memorials for the dead soldiers? Culture? May be, but we need to learn some of these
from the West.
We moved over these memorials to the most
important buildings of Washington. The capital city itself is situated on the banks
of river Potomac and is known as Washington DC, because it was formally the District
Columbia. As a National Capital of United States of America, it has three main important
buildings, the Capitol, White House and the Supreme Court.
The Capitol
Capitol is the home of US Congress and
the seat of legislative branch of US Federal government. It was opened up in 1800
and built in Neo-classical style. Does it remind you of another Capitol, the Capitol
Hills of Rome? Yes, Capitoline is one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was
founded.
It was the political and religious hub
of Rome, the symbol of eternity and indestructibility of Rome. Yet in 476 AD the
Western Roman Empire with its capital in Rome fell to the barbarians and in 1453
AD the Eastern Roman Empire and its capital Constantinople fell to the ravages of
Ottoman Army. What is so eternal about any earthly kingdom or Empire? They all rise
only to fall after some centuries. May be, Roman Empire lasted the longest, some
2000 and more years!
The White House - Northern Facade
White House is the official residence
of the President of USA and also the work place. Though built in 1800, additions,
alterations and modifications were on till 1950s. It is the seat of Oval Office
of the President, created in 1909 and the executive residence of the President.
The seat of power, one might say.
The Supreme Court of US is the highest federal
court in US founded in 1789. It is the final appellate court for all cases and has
its own original jurisdiction too. It is also the final interpreter of the federal
law as enshrined in the US Constitution. Its present imposing and dignified building
was built in 1935; “Equal Justice under the Law” is inscribed on the top facade
of the building.
There are many museums in the capital
city, but we could see only the Natural Air and Space museum, for want of time and
also due to the tired legs begging us to sit and not wander any more. We returned tired but well informed about the capital
of America, the leading nation of the world. Sure worth the visit.
