Driving through some greatness

The Daily Show recently had a man-on-the-street interview segment where they questioned Trump's campaign slogan, "Making America Great Again." I came across the segment on a facebook post and instantly I was struck by the accusation inherent the question, "When was America Great?" Even though its intention was to lightly poke fun at conservatives, the underlying message was that America had never been great because it had never been perfect. The interviewers try to trap people in what they perceive to be a blind patriotism by pointing out the flaws in U.S. history such as voting rights inequality, the Indian Removal Act, or slavery. The interview subjects are never given a chance to consider and articulate a response. But there should be a response. The argument is flawed- America has been great. Exceptional, even. America was unique in its founding, unique in that its country's government was, from its inception, submitted to God's authority. Our founding documents, our motto, our monuments attest to this. What a radical thought! It declared that men had rights because God endowed them. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote that "the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible" was the only means of establishing and maintaining a republican government... "For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism." The authority of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian God governed the government itself. Was it perfect? Even such a nation could only be as perfect as its people. So our nation has never been perfect. I would however say that insomuch as our leaders have sought the Lord, it has been great. And clearly, it has been blessed.

We're in DC now so I am surrounded by the history of our country and the volatility of the times in which we now live. I prefer the history. (I am sure that the times have always seemed volatile to the people living in them.) We arrived here "at post" on Friday after taking five days to make the 16 hour drive. Our first stop was at Hutchinson island where we were battered by rough waves. It would be our last taste of sea water for a long time. Nico was pulling himself up to a standing position on my old boogie board the way my brother Gio once did. 

For our second stop, St Augustine, we stayed at an ocean front cottage. The kids went down to the water's edge in the moonlight with their pants rolled up and then again in the morning before we went out exploring. 

 In the historic area, we took a short tour of the "oldest school house" and admired the Castillo de San Marcos from afar. The heat was pretty intense.

We decided to cool down in Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum- a regretful tour of grotesque nightmares with human freaks, instruments of torture, and novelties of demonic origin from native peoples around the world including masks made from human skin, pygmy heads, and body mutilations of various kinds. 

There were some more enjoyable exhibits towards the end but the damage had been done. 

That night we had dinner with a friend in Summerville on our way into historic Charleston. It was no wonder after our museum experience that this old hotel, with 18th century furnishings and creaky floors, felt haunted. Our morning excursion to Fort Sumter was more successful, having made it onto the first boat out, which gave Noemie the chance to participate in the flag raising. 

After sticking our heads in a few canons we made our way to Raleigh where one of my best friends, Meredith, awaited us with dinner on the stovetop. We stayed with her and her family till Friday morning.

Our drive time to our new hotel from Raleigh was double what we expected with traffic and Gigi got motion sickness from coloring her Hello Kitty pages. She threw up on her blanket. I developed a migraine. But it was the only bad stretch of a very, very long road trip. For weeks I have been encouraging my friends, nay imploring them, to visit us while we are in DC but I don't know that I wish that drive on anyone. Our air baggage arrived, miraculously maybe, the day after we checked into our new hotel. We expect to be here until we find "permanent" housing, which should take about a month or so. Towards the end of September we will be receiving the list of potential posts for our reassignment one year from now. Volatility everywhere.

I don't know what I am going to do tomorrow (though I will probably bust out some P90X yoga in the evening) or the next day (skype my parents?) or the next day after that (... more yoga?!) and indeed that is one of the most frustrating things about our time here. Danny starts work tomorrow while the rest of us are left behind to make new friends, new routines, new networks, new adventures. But it's hard to make up new adventures when you don't have the networks to relieve you or encourage you if you find yourself in distress or in failure. And you can't make the networks without the new routines where you run across the new friends... So maybe my first order of business tomorrow is to make some friends?