In 1971, my mother traveled to Washington D.C. to visit friends. They didn’t do much sightseeing beyond a glimpse of Nixon’s dog on the White House lawn. They did get rousted out of the fountain in front of the Smithsonian when they arrived after closing time. What else to do but take a dip, right?
Mom really wasn’t one to be rousted by the police on the regular back in her native Ohio small town, but send her to DC and they couldn’t pull her out of public water features fast enough.
Just act casual
Two decades later, my cousin (best friend) and I also traveled to Washington DC. According to recently unearthed video (taken with one of those massive 1980s era camcorders), we managed to stay on dry land. Nonetheless, I apparently traveled around DC that year in shorts, a cute halter top and big fluffy bangs.
I lounged on the White House lawn before one of the many daily tours and spent an inordinate amount of effort looking for fun — and anywhere Jacqueline Kennedy may have once lived — in Georgetown.
Flash forward a couple more decades and BoyWonder and three college-age friends decided to spend Veterans Day weekend in our nation’s capital “for fun.” OK, boys.
This group of 20- and 21-year-olds wore suits and ties to sightsee. They applied in advance to gain tour credentials for the White House. They felt it only right that they should dress up for the occasion.
They went to the Smithsonian, the White House and numerous other points of interest, soaking up history and curiosity from others even if they never touched the fountain.
Were they politicians? Lawyers? Lobbyists? Apparently, if an American tourist dresses in anything but a logo sweatshirt, casual pants and flip-flops, people don’t know what to make of it.
This shows that our family tree has really evolved from the days they were chiding my pretty young mother to please stop wading in public fountains. Today my son, her grandson, posed outside the Oval Office in a suit and tie. As it turns out, you CAN dress up an Eagle Scout and take him just about anywhere.
These handsome young men who once rolled their eyes — hard — at Mrs. Seabolt’s ceaseless insistence on taking photographs of them growing up, now handed their phones to strangers and asked them to please take a picture.
In fact, they looked so at home in the halls of government I think if they had stayed another week, one of them may have held a Congressional office by default.
Just before leaving for this trip, BoyWonder had outpatient surgery on his leg. As we were leaving the doctor’s office with instructions to reset, he asked me to drive him to the polling place so he could vote on election night. This was very important to him. So he limped in to cast his ballot before the polls closed. That is dedication to the cause.
Not to be outdone, his sister, GirlWonder, also voted diligently. She went between work and college and was practically hugged by an elderly gentleman who was just so tickled to see “young people” doing their civic duty.
Me, I’m not the least bit surprised. Out here, I don’t really understand the disdain for millennials and other young adults — this much-malignedd generation that is purported to be rude, lazy and, most galling of all, self-centered.
According to Pew research, anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22 to 37 in 2018) will be considered a millennial, and “anyone born from 1997 onward will be part of a new generation.”
There are no absolutes and plenty of those millennial citizens are as hard-working and selfless as you would hope to find. I can say that, from where I stand, this newest defined group of young people is looking pretty great too.
We hail from a land that is almost mythical. Children still say the Pledge of Allegiance, they are basically hard-working, honorable and (mostly) kind. If they ever fail to be one of those things, you can probably contact their parents or grandparents and get that set straight real quick.
As a result, most of the “young folks” I have the pleasure to know are great at any age.
As we approach the season of giving thanks, I am thankful for countless things that have blessed my life. I am most proud, however, of the blessings of amazing young people who aren’t afraid to get their feet wet and make a splash doing their civic duty with pride in their country — even if they don’t wade into the fountain.
