"We Are One" Inauguration Pre-Bash Leaves National Mall Trashed
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Low-level hypothermia had started to kick in by the time the first act took the stage on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Desperate to beat the crowds, my friends and I had bundled in hats and mittens and headed down to the Mall for the much-hyped "We Are One" concert at 8 a.m.. For seven hours, we huddled for body heat on the frozen ground, playing "Bullshit" and "War" with a wonky deck of Obama-themed playing cards. But even the bitter cold couldn't dampen the soaring sense of optimism and community among the concertgoers. As the star-studded kick-off to the inaugural festivities began, the crowd, clearly still rolling on a civic-engagement induced high, roared, cheered and chanted, caught in a patriotic fervor.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered to hear Bono speak of the better world of the future he sees from behind his rose-tinted glasses. Beyonce belted out "Gold Bless America" and Barack repeated his message of hard work and hope for the future of America.
But as the crowd poured out of the park, I couldn't help but notice what they left behind. Trash. Everywhere.
And I'm not just talking overflow from the plentiful cardboard receptacles, or a wrapper here and a soda can there. Real garbage covered the frozen ground. Dirty, disgusting trash. It was like going to a campground and leaving your entire site behind- tarps, blankets, newspapers, Styrofoam coolers, chips, boxes of cookies, you name it.
The environment was front and center throughout the campaign - whether embodied by Obama's pledge to create 5 million green jobs or gas-guzzling gusto of the GOP's "Drill, baby, drill!" You would think if anyone would be litter-conscious it would be Obama and his base of merry change-makers, who love all things good and green.
Millions of Americans had gathered in the bitter cold to celebrate the fruits of their civic engagement. And as they left the very parcel of federal land designated to honor the greatness of American Democracy, few even stopped to remark on the mess they and their compatriots had left behind.
"Torey, people are paid to come pick this up," one of my friends responded, rolling his eyes. "What are you supposed to do, bring a garbage bag with you?"
The unofficial theme of Inauguration week, as the Huffington Post wrote in a blaring headline January 20, was "Grow up." Obama used his first appearance on the bully pulpit to tell the American people to man up, take some responsibility and pitch in during these toughest of times. Trashing the National Mall might seem insignificant in the scope of our country's mounting troubles, but it illustrates a disconcerting undercurrent in our society that's going to hinder us as we attempt to usher in this "new era of responsibility."
We don't like to pick up after ourselves.
Clean up your mess. It's a lesson we learn in kindergarten alongside the Golden Rule, another tenet of social responsibility that seems to have gone by the wayside.
"It's not my fault!" people let out in a collective wail each time it's abundantly clear that our country is broken. "Someone fix it, fast!"
Yes, a lapse in oversight and inexcusable predatory lending tactics contributed to the current financial crisis, but we still took on the mortgage for that house with the white picket fence we couldn't afford, leased that Lexus, charged that cruise to Cabo, glossed over the fine print on that credit card application. Yes, we went into two wars we probably can't win on ostensibly false pretenses, but we still reelected, by more than 30 million votes, the man who led us into them, gave the government the green light to strip us of civil liberties, threatened to boot any elected official who wasn't willing to drop everything to fight the shadowy threat of terrorism.
We bemoan the state of the environment and the gloomy forecast for our planet's health. Sixty-four percent of voters see global warming as a serious problem. But recent polls show that curbing global warming and environmental protection has plummeted on the public's list of government priorities in the last year.
But we still drive our SUVs, drink bottled water, build McMansions and continue to increase the volume of consumption across the power grid. "Going green," a trend so en vogue that the subject has spawned countless TV shows, magazines and a special issue of Vanity Fair. It has been absorbed into our consumerist collective psyche. But actually getting our hands dirty - literally - and living with less is something we as a country just aren't willing to do to keep our seas shining, plains filled with fruitful abundance and mountains glistening with purple majesty.
We have, as a country, a lot on our plates and minds. One in five American homeowners owes more on their house than it is actually worth. It's hard to tell those facing foreclosure to quit their whining and go to the Capitol to lobby for cap-and-trade legislation. And it's hard for even the most environmentally conscious citizen to muddle through the myriad options for greener living - does the gas saved by driving a hybrid outweigh the carbon footprint created by the car's inefficient production process?
But we need to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. The millions of Americans who voted to issue a mandate for change this past election cannot rest on their laurels and wait impatiently for better days.
As Obama said in his victory speech in Grant Park, "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change." There's a lot the government can, and hopefully will, do to help lessen the pain of our current predicaments, but we can't expect our government to bear the burden of our irresponsibility alone. Many of our messes have already grown into too large for us to untangle on our own, but we can, and must, approach the days ahead with accountability and conscientiousness of the consequences of our actions.
Step one? Lay off the litter.
Photos by Torey Van Oot & Ryan Furlong
