National Native American Veterans Memorial

It was on our usual weekly drive in to town that we stumbled across a new memorial. I knew it was being constructed because we couldn’t take the usual path by the Smithsonian American Indian Museum as it was blocked off over the last several months. But this time, on a very windy morning, we found that the Native American Veterans Memorial was almost complete. There were a few workmen working on the last finishing touches - putting in the five insignias of the armed services. Where there was a pond on the east side, a walking path bridge now takes you across it to a platform where the memorial rests. You’d never know you were right across from the Capitol building. A sign describes the five concepts that are important to native cultures - water, fire, earth, air, and the circle - an opening to the sky and the spiritual world. One can tie prayer cloths to the lances posted around the site. The museum itself is distinctly different from DC buildings. Viewing it through the circle made it even more distinctive. The city is still very desolate except for building renovations and street repairs. At least it gives us something to do since we can’t attend any programs and everything remains closed. So we park the car in our old neighborhood and check out what has changed since we left a year and a half ago. It’s a nice change of scenery.