Irony

We just got back from vacation. We had a great family time, spending a couple days in Hershey PA and a couple more days in Washington DC. It was a trip full of 'ironies' for me. It was exhausting, yet refreshing at the same time, if that's possible.

The ironies that come to mind mostly surrounded things in our nation's capital:

Irony #1 - While visiting Arlington National Cemetery, the place where thousands of American heroes have been laid to rest, we were brow-beaten by a customer service representative who could barely speak English. She was frustrated because we couldn't understand her. I am all for the 'melting pot' thing, but it's a sad irony that I came to pay my respects to the fallen Americans and someone enjoying their freedom in America, working at Arlington, considers their privilege of working there as 'just a job' instead of the honor that it is.

Irony #2 - The Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History just a couple blocks from each other has me scratching my head. Let me explain. Everyone knows about the Holocaust and the genocide that took place at the hands of Adolph Hitler. On the side of the Holocaust Museum there is a quote by Ronald Reagan: "We must make sure that their deaths have posthumous meaning. We must make sure that from now until the end of days all humankind stares this evil in the face... and only then can we be sure that it will never arise again". Sadly, Adolf Hitler exploited the racist ideas of Darwinism to justify genocide. Where do we find Darwinism in Washington DC? At the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, of course - two blocks away. Busloads of high school kids being indoctrinated into evolutionary thought. They don't even try to hide it or be subtle about it anymore - there's a new film at the museum about butterflies called 'Partners in Evolution'. If we want to make sure something like the holocaust repeats itself, I suppose we can continue to teach our children that we were not created in the image of God, but rather we are a product of chance.

Irony #3 - We live in a culture that is trying to get 'God' out of the public square. Some people even want to re-write history and say that the founding fathers were not Christians and that our country was not founded upon Christian/Biblical principles. The irony in this is that God, Eternal Father, Jesus Christ, the Almighty, the Creator, and other like terms are inscribed or engraved into virtually every marble wall, monument, building, statue or other memorials in the city.

Irony #4 - We visited the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We saw literally millions of dollars in stacks and bales. We saw expensive buildings, expensive cars, expensive clothing, expensive houses. It's a different lifestyle in that city. I know people who have migrated to D.C. in pursuit of all those expensive things. And yet true joy seemed elusive in the faces of those whose eyes met mine on the street. The stress, the rush and the rat race of the work day drowned out any small hope of peace and happiness. The silence in the Metro stations was deafening as the thousands of empty faces proceeded to their next destination, just like they did yesterday and the day before. I wondered about all that money and its false promise of happiness.

More thoughts on Washington DC in upcoming posts next week.

Glad to be home,
Mark