I’m going to give it to y’all straight- I’ve had a lot of personal stuff happening this week and I’ve been less than motivated to post because of it. Paris is lovely and I have adored my time here, but I am ready to go home.
The city of lights is really magical, and I don’t know that I can chalk that up to one specific cause. It’s a marvel of urban planning, due in no small measure to the prioritization of care and painstaking maintenance. I can’t help but think that this is what a capitol city is supposed to be. I’ve seen celebrations of all kinds of history; from the exhibits at the Musée d’Orsay to the preservation of historic cultural neighborhoods, Paris has prioritized the stories of every French person. It’s really something remarkable to see, especially when compared to D.C..
Washington is a literal swamp with a disgusting air of whiteness. D.C. wants for you to believe it is perfect; instead of prioritizing the people that live there, it prioritizes the idea of what it could never be. In comparison to Paris, it is like a toddler borrowing their older sibling’s clothes and make-up: lipstick smeared on their cheeks, a shirt three sizes too big, and shoes which they can barely fill. America wanted so badly to spurn the elitism of the oppressive places from which they escaped, but couldn’t put aside their hubris to actually study how to make things work. In classic American fashion, we stole the parts we liked without really understanding how to turn them into a fully functioning whole. Then, we bragged that we did it better. I can’t help but feel that the USA is a kid who wanted to grow up too fast and be treated as an adult; along the way we missed key lessons that could only be learned through experience and age. Now we have a country dealing with issues that shouldn’t even be up for debate (children should NOT be put in cages, EVER), and an infrastructure that reflects the vapid superficiality of a government perpetually focused on temporarily one-upping the competition.
This trip has made me value a lot of things I took for granted, but it has also shown me how much the USA truly lacks. In short, good planning is a marathon, not a sprint, and America has a lot left to learn.