From Allie Farfel:

The past two days in Washington D.C. have been packed with a variety of meetings and activities. Saturday morning we started at The National Coalition for the Homeless. There, we spoke with the director of the program, Michael Stoops as well as a formerly homeless woman, Francine, and a man named John, who is currently living on the street. Their stories of struggle and hardship gave us the realization that the country we live in is not as fair and equal as it is made out to be. After everything that they have gone through their optimism and hope left everyone in the room feeling inspired and wanting to create change. When we confronted the fact that often times people are uncomfortable giving money to people on the streets by asking what we could do other than give money, Francine told us, “Whatever you give, it doesn’t have to be money, but give from your heart.” Hearing this made me think that it only takes a small gesture to make someone’s day or week just a little better, and since then I’ve noticed that when our group walks past someone homeless, a select few have gone out of their way to present food, money, or just conversation to those who most people look right through, and choose to ignore.

After going to the coalition, we approached The White House as we walked through Lafayette Park; we stopped and talked to all the different protesters on their positions and beliefs. The people we encountered in that park were some of the most driven many of us will ever meet; there were people on a hunger strike, a woman who has been protesting outside of The White House since 1981, and many others. This was one highlight of our time here in Washington because we had a chance to discuss and debate issues and our views with the protesters.

After about half of an hour we sat down under a tree where we discussed development. We spoke with Avi Rosenblit, who works for Jews United For Justice. We discussed gentrification, diversity, pros and cons of affordable housing and what we can do to help. After talking we returned to the bus that has become our home to take us to dinner; we went to Potbelly for delicious, warm sandwiches.

After that we headed towards Capitol Steps at the Lincoln Center where we would enjoy a night of fun political jokes. While we were sitting there, it occurred to me that had I seen that show prior to this trip, I wouldn’t have understood a fair number of the jokes. After a fun time watching Capitol Steps, we took things down a notch, and visited a few memorials; Billy told us that it was important to see some of the memorials at night because that was the way they were meant to be seen.

First we went to the Vietnam memorial were there was just a wall slowly ascending as you walk farther back, with a huge list of names of the men and women that died in the war. The wall getting taller symbolizes the war growing bigger and bigger, going from something that you can overlook and growing into something that surrounds you and you can’t escape it. Leaning against the wall was an occasional sheet with a picture and information about a man or woman listed on that panel. There were letters from friends and family sending their best to their deceased loved ones that were just heartbreaking. There was also a shirt on a cardboard square, signed by a few people and it said on it, ”All gave some, some gave all.” While I was walking along the wall, I stuck my hand out to feel the etched in names, it made it feel more tangible, and as I got to the tallest part of the wall, I stuck my hand straight up and the wall went way above where my hand could reach; this is when it became clear, the war was bigger than just one person, but each person mattered; that idea seemed to sum up our trip in a bit of a nutshell. It was extremely powerful.

Next was the Korean Memorial were there was another wall, but this one was a little different; this wall had no words, but it had faces and images from the Korean War. When facing the wall there was a reflection of a soldier, and I turned around to see a large area with differently positioned soldier sculptures from the war. Each one’s face portrayed something different, but they all had an element of fear, and the way that they were illuminated at night added the additional feeling of fear. At the end of the wall was a larger statue of a few men one of which had died, and there was a woman bracing him in her arms and this is when the full affect hit. It was yet another moving memorial.

We then headed towards the newest memorial, the World War II memorial that was finished two years ago. It had a plaque and a wreath for each state that were all lined up as a wall in a big circle. In the center of the circle was a large pool of water. In between the wall and the big pool of water on one side there was a small pool of water and the wall behind it said, “Here marks the price of freedom.” The whole wall was covered with metal stars, we were told that each star represented one thousand lives, and to look at the scale was just unbelievable.

Last but not least, we went to the Washington Memorial. Although it stands tall, beautiful, and strong, it didn’t do much for me. The one thing about it that I found to be incredible was that you could see every monument in the mall when standing next to it. Billy explained that it was like a big cross and he thought it was all strategically placed to do just that. After that we headed back to the hotel after a long and productive day for a nice sleep.

The next day we started the morning on a very serious note, at the Holocaust museum. All that I can say is that if you haven’t been there before, put it on a list of things to do before you die, it’s incredible. Although it is at times very upsetting and disturbing, it wakes you up and really makes you realize that when we say “never again” we really have to follow through. There is a room just filled with a pile of shoes that have all melded together to look gray from age, but imaging the shoes filled with human lives was very hard. At the end of the museum was a room for remembrance where you could light a candle to honor the memories of all that were killed and I went in there for about ten minutes and just meditated and really thought about where I was. As moving as it was, we had to proceed to the next museum.

At the Smithsonian American History Museum we were able to explore the cultural and political aspects of our nation’s history. We began with lunch and then were given time to tour the various exhibits. It was particularly interesting to see the exhibit about the different wars America has participated in. I noticed, that in the Vietnam section, I found myself feeling much more knowledgeable about the events that took place during the ten-year span of the war. For example, the student riots and the shootings that took place at Kent state was such a tremendous event in our past. When we were able to go to the university and experience the story first hand, it made seeing one of the actual riffles used in the museum much more real and harder hitting.

We then talked to David Smith who we had spoken with previously at Berkley. He had told us about his organization, Mobilize.org, that helps teens get involved in political issues. When we spoke to him in Berkley he told us about his story, and how he had come to make a difference, but this time was more about us being able to make our own differences. We all got Mobilizer’s Guidebooks and information about how we can get involved not only with Mobilize.org but also how we can do things independently. After we spoke with David Smith, he so generously let us use his office for our “wrap-up.”

This would be the last wrap-up for four of our friends, so it was a very important one. We all spoke about how we had seen everything come together in D.C. and how everything we learned had finally culminated in the past four days. We all went around and skipped the turns of those who were leaving, to save them for the end, but when it came to their turn, the first three all agreed on one thing, that these past five weeks had been five of the best weeks of their lives. The fourth to speak about his departure from Etgar 36 was Aaron Kessler, who so brilliantly stated, “These past five weeks are not the best five weeks of my life. That would be like saying the whistle is the best part of the race, or the green light is the best part of the drive.” That’s what this trip has been about, supplying us with the materials to continue on with our lives and be involved. We have now been given a car with a full tank of gas, and now with the end of Etgar comes the beginning of the long drive.

After our wrap-up we went to see “An Inconvenient Truth”, the new Al Gore movie which showed us what is really going on in the world with our earth, and while some fell asleep, others were changed, and I think that that is the most important thing. After that, we all agreed that something needed to be done, and we all wanted to help, but first, we needed sleep.

The next morning we went to The American Israeli Public Actions Committee (AIPAC). We discussed and debated with three very knowledgeable college interns. They shared some incredible insight and shined light on the situation in the Middle East. It was a subject most of us feel very strongly about and the interns gave us some different ways to be influential campus activists at our schools and determined activists in our Jewish communities. It was really a great meeting to end with considering the very real and overriding crisis between Israel and Lebanon that is occurring at this point it time.