(no subject)
I'm back home, very happy to see the family, who were very happy to see presents. The changes in the house that I was warned about were mostly positive. The TV was hung on the wall, which is great. A fluorescent light was hung in the kitchen, which was okay. I'd rather have one that wasn't so fluorescenty, but at least I can see when I cook now. Although I can also see the dirt on the floor, which is bad. I'm not big on cleaning but I always wipe up spills, and I have a sticky layer to remove today.
Gatherings are always a blur the next day, when you are dead tired and trying to remember exactly what happened. It was wonderful to see everyone again and meet new people. Seeing the Vietnam Wall was just as special and difficult as I thought it would be, and I am relieved that I could face it without being way too emotional, although it was kind of close. All those war memorials, and we never seem to consider war too costly to undertake. People say they are necessary, but no, they never are. Maybe they are necessary the moment we engage in them, but we never would have had to reach that place at all if we were smart. But wars make a lot of people very rich and make a lot of poor people feel important, so here we are, putting up massive monuments to our failures.
I liked the Library of Congress much better, as it's a monument to our love of knowledge. Seeing Thomas Jefferson's library was a huge treat. Anybody with such a huge thirst for knowledge must have been an interesting man, and it's good to know that the founders realized the hypocrisy of claiming freedom for themselves while denying it for others. At least it's a start.
When you go into gift shops in DC you see Obama Victorious! stuff and Spiteful! McCain/Republican stuff, both foolish. The battles of the gods on Olympus get all the attention, not the people who worship them in the hopes of having better lives.