One of our stops was at the memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the middle of it is a larger-than-life statue of FDR and his dog, Fala. Several kids wanted their picture taken with the “cute doggie”. OK, understandable. I walked on.
It was when I passed by again that my jaw truly dropped. Children were swarming the FDR statue, literally climbing all over it. One boy was hanging from FDR’s outstretched hand. Were any parents pulling them back? No, they were taking photos! I was disgusted. Not only could they potentially damage the statue, it was just downright disrespectful. This was a memorial, not a jungle gym. I couldn’t watch anymore, and returned to the tour bus.
Our next stop was the newly-opened Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial. It had just been dedicated that week, and I was anxious to see it. When I got there, the first thing I heard was excited screaming. A large group of girls around 12 years old were trying to get into formation for a photo in front of the towering statue of Dr. King, and they were shrieking and giggling like they were in line at a Justin Bieber concert. Worse yet, the curved shape and granite walls of the memorial meant the screaming echoed … a lot. It would be impossible way to quietly contemplate the memorial the way I had hoped to. Thankfully, a D.C. Parks Police officer spoke to the group’s chaperone, who yelled at the girls that this was a memorial and they needed to be quiet and respectful. Why it took a police officer talking to her for her to realize this, I do not know.
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