Third Time’s a Charm

Saturday was my third visit to Arlington.  The first time I was seven and only know I went because my dad told me I did.  The second, the infamous eighth grade trip to Washington so, Arlington was squeezed into a day of “see as much as you can”-- the only thing I remember being affected by was the Columbia Space Shuttle memorial because I vividly remembered the disaster that took place only a year earlier.  On that visit Arlington was just another tourist destination.  So, despite the fact that I have been there twice already I felt like Saturday was my first “real” visit to Arlington.

The first thing I noticed was a sign on the gate that said “no jogging.”  I didn’t know what to think about that.  A visitor might assume that it had to do with being respectful, however my dad told me that when he lived in Roslyn he jogged in (not around but in) Arlington every morning.  This made me wonder if it was a security issue.  Does Arlington seem safer without people treating it like a park?  If so, (or even if it was a security issue) why wasn’t the rule in place twenty years ago.

Of the paper PTJ gave us on Arlington the topic that stuck out the most to me was identity.  I do not usually consider myself very patriotic, but walking through the cemetery I felt an immense sense of pride for my country and a deep respect for those who have fought to give me the freedoms I am accustomed to.  I felt a deep respect for those who sacrificed their safety for me.

The most memorable park of my visit was what I mentioned during our pizza dinner, the guard yelling at a tourist to stand up during the changing of the guard.  When this first happened I was appalled.  Although personally I would always stand as a sign respect during the ceremony I did not think it was necessary for the guard to yell at the man.  Though standing is the respectful thing to do, I was thinking that it was that individual’s personal freedom to not stand.  When the ceremony was over I expressed my concern to SilenceDoGood who had a very different reaction than I had.  She pointed out that Arlington is not public cemetery it is military cemetery.  Therefore, the military has every right to not only ask for respect, but demand it.  

That is what was most interesting about Arlington to and made it different from most cemeteries-- its not public.  I may treat it with the same respect that I would another but at the end of the day if I did something wrong it would not be an issue of morality but of legality.

I had some thoughts that I never expressed during Friday’s class that I never had a chance to say.  I think feelings of insecurity derive from instances with massive consequences (think 9/11, Katrina).  The article we read mentioned that well are at a much higher risk on a train or in a car, yet people are not usually afraid to ride in them.  On the other hand people are afraid of plains because they have seen incidents with massive amounts of casualties in the media.

I also wanted to say what I thought would happen if security was removed from the airport.  I think people would freak out, mostly because they are used to it.  It would not so much be the lack of security but the drastic change from lots to none.  When we use other methods of transportation it does not bother us that we do not go through the security check.  I think people’s feeling of insecurity would increase significantly.