From March 11 through March 16 I was part of the senior class trip to Washington DC. I think I have finally recovered from the sleep I missed while the bus traveled through the night. The students had free time to see the memorials and the museums and several scheduled activities including visits to the White House, the Capital, Mt. Vernon, the Aquarium in Baltimore, the Holocaust Museum, tours of the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a visit with Coleman McCarthy, and a stop at the Mennonite Guest House to see our former principal, Wilbur Yoder and his wife. We also saw a play, "Piano Lesson" by August Wilson at the the Kennedy Center.
When I get ready to go along on this trip I often wonder if it is worthwhile. During the trip I realize the majority of our students have not been to D.C. before, some have not been to the east coast, and most would not willingly visit the cathedrals, or see a performance at the Kennedy Center.
When I visit D.C. I am always reminded how obnoxious the security has become. Here in the cornfields of Iowa I don't run into a lot of security issues. When we visited Senator Grassley we went to meet him at the Hart Senate office building. To get in we had to go through metal detectors, empty our pockets, some people had to take off their shoes, and I was scolded when I failed to take off my belt, and its not like I was wearing a big cowboy belt buckle. The last time I had to take off my belt and submit to the detection wand being waved around my body I was in Hebron, going with the CPT delegation to visit the Ibrahimi mosque.
After spending some time with Senator Grassley we went from his office to the Capitol. We were inside the entire time and yet we had to go through security once more. After a bit of a tour we went up to see if we could get into the Senate gallery. Once again we went through security and this time I was asked to take off my belt. After all the students made it through security where a few lost their hand lotion and chap stick we were ushered into the gallery. I found it rather enjoyable because many of the Senators were actually on the floor. We heard brief speeches by Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, and Ted Kennedy among others. Some of the kids saw Obama, Clinton and McCain which they thought was cool.
What puzzled me was that only about an eighth of the Senate gallery was full. The rest of the seats were empty. Yet when we left after watching for about 45 minutes, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the gallery. If the building is to be our capital, why should citizens be forced to wait in long lines when there were plenty of seats available? If you subtract the press area, at least 3/4's of the gallery was empty. It sort of ticked me off because the year before I was one of those people waiting in the long line and by the time they let us in to the chambers, after waiting over an hour or more, there was nothing going on as the Senate had adjourned.
The visit with Coleman McCarthy probably provoked the most conversation among students. He talked about the classes he teaches on peacemaking. Then he stirred things up a bit when he said the first step in peacemaking is to "not eat anything that has a mother." If I understood him correctly he would fit into the vegan category. So we had this guy advocating vegetarianism to kids from a State which has more pigs than people, and to kids, some of whose parents raise beef and hogs for a living. It made for a lively discussion which was fun to observe- though some of the kids were shy and saved their questions and comments for the sponsors when we got back to the bus.
On the 14th I turned 50 and the kids had fun with that. I endured numerous rounds of "happy birthday" and received a couple of gifts- a self-exam prostate kit, and a mug which said "I lean left" and was made so it does lean to the left. Back at the hotel the kids surprised me with a cake. I should have been more suspicious but I was tired and just happy that at the time the kids seemed quiet. All in all it wasn't the worst way to spend one's 50th birthday.
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