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Day #5:Washington D.C. Part 1
I promise this won’t be as long as my last blog.
Goodbye New York, hello Nation’s Capital. It was pretty sad to be leaving the big apple, but knowing I would be in Obama nation in less than five hours, made it a lot easier.
I’ve started to admire the time on the bus, because that’s where a lot of the fun happens. And we only have 5 days left. It’s extremely sad, but I’m going to try to not think about it as the trip goes along.
Before this trip even started, I knew I’d be meeting some interesting characters, but I had no idea what impact those people would have on me. Well in Washington D.C., next to the Lincoln Memorial to be exact, I met a man that asked to be called Sergeant Major. If that doesn’t say it enough, I’ll elaborate.
Marlee, Chelsy, and I were on our way over to the Vietnam War Memorial, and then we saw a little stand that had a whole lot of military memorabilia. My dad is a Marine, so I thought I’d get him some Marine badges and pins. I could tell when I first talked to the man working the stand, something was up, but I thought nothing of it at first. I then told him the number corresponding to the pin that I wanted. He was very short when talking to me, and again, I could tell something was wrong. After about a few more minutes, he started talking. Not about badges, not about pins. He talked about what had just happened, not even five minutes before the girls and I had arrived at his stand.
What he began to tell us wasn’t a happy war story, it was more like an ignorant american story. His words began describing a woman that had just been at his stand. She asked him what he was doing there, and he responded by telling her that he was selling items to help raise funds for the military effort. The woman didn’t agree with that, so she told him that what he was doing was stupid. How can someone be that crude and selfish?
Now if this was some guy selling dog poop on the corner, I’d understand that comment. But this is a man, a MAN, who fought in three wars (Desert Storm, Haiti, and Operation Iraqi Freedom) and now devotes his time to volunteer at a memorabilia stand.
Once he was done telling us what happened, there wasn’t a word out of the girls or I. We just stood there in awe, wondering how someone could say that. I then paid him for what I had bought, and thanked him for what he had done for our country. I’m extremely happy I had met him, and I want to thank anyone that has served or is currently serving for our country. I appreciate what you have done and/or what you are doing.
After that, we saw a few more memorials, and then headed back to the hotel. It was a day filled with events and many of them I will never forget. Stay tuned for more.
