As the sun cracked over the horizon, I was struck by the tension that seems to pervade much of the environment around me. It is a tension between what I see, and what I think I'm being told I should be experiencing. On the one hand, it's almost impossible to escape folks selling fear, disgust, danger, chaos, scarcity, and even hate.
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| Dawn emerges over the Anacostia with the USS Barry |
None of those things existed this morning along the mile and a half I covered while giving the left foot another day of break-in time. I made my way out onto a robust and completely accessible dock floating out on the Anacostia. Now I don't like to be a pollyanna, and I know this kind of wealth isn't necessarily representative but I've walked a long way in a diverse set of locations over the last year. The things I'm bombarded with on any number of media outlets as being the norm simply do not exist in the quantities or with the menace with which they are portrayed.
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| USS Barry on the Anacostia |
I live in an extraordinary place during an extraordinary time. Many of the problems from just 100 years ago have been vanquished, and I have access to a freedom that is without equal in all of human history.
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| Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge - South Capitol Street, SW, Washington, DC |
I am grateful that walking has given me the opportunity to open my eyes and the time to critically evaluate what I see. To experience the moment and the meter of space and all the exceptional things happening all around me. It's there for the "taking (in)" for anyone who can just slow down for a minute, stopping to notice and understand what a wonder is happening right before our eyes. The world isn't perfect, but it is fantastically good. I'll be on the lookout for additional beauty as tomorrow unfolds.
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