Long Walks On Leafy Streets

11/10/2014 Tuckerman St NW, Washington, DC
This week has been an up and down one. On the one hand our family news continues to be good and I got a good review on a paper I submitted for publication. I submitted the revised paper on Friday and it should be accepted and published soon. This is the first paper that I have published in a long time, and also it is on an idea and topic that I developed on my own as opposed to the topic I had been working on for my doctorate. I had been working on this idea for years now and had to develop a lot of the techniques on my own because it is completely new and there is not much that the existing literature can say about it. So it is a major milestone in my life and it gives a feeling of great relief and joy.
On the other hand the Democrats suffered a major setback by losing the senate as well as additional seats in the house, in the midterm elections.
I had been calling voters all over the country, in places such as Iowa, North Carolina, South Dakota and Alaska. It is a painful task. Although most voters are polite, many of them understandably do not like to be called and a few are rude and even abusive. None of that would have mattered if the Democrats had won at least all the seats in the states that are leaning Democratic. I felt a deep sadness that now the causes that I cared about, and worked hard for, are all in danger. Because the main source of the Republican strength is the enormous amount of money coming from the fossil fuel industry, Wall Street and insurance companies, it will now become very difficult to do anything on climate change, the environment, economic justice or healthcare. Worse, they might do things that turn back the progress that has already been made.
In this state of mind I was not able to interact well with people as thoughtfully and patiently as I would have liked. Due to my sadness on top of all the other work that is keeping me busy I ended up getting irritated with both family and friends. This created additional suffering because I don’t like to get irritated or be less than thoughtful with anyone.
So I decided that I needed to take a time out and spend some time in solitude. I decided to go out by myself on Saturday. After cooking lunch for my family and finishing up some volunteer work I set out on my journey around 2pm. I had my papers and my books with me and started walking down 4th street. It is a rather quiet street and runs all the way from Sheridan Street NW to Rock Creek Church Rd without any breaks. Most of the traffic goes on 3rd or 5th streets, so it is a nice street for walking. It was lined by trees on both sides. The trees were mostly golden brown, scarlet and crimson by now and I enjoyed the colors as well as the crunch of the dry leaves under my feet. The air was quite cool, probably in the forties. This was the first time this season that I felt cold. Although I was wearing my favorite jacket that I bought at the Skyland resort in the Shenandoah Mountains, I was still felling cold. My nose was runny and I exhausted all the tissue paper that I had. I also needed to go to the bathroom. So I turned west on Shepherd Street and walked to the Safeway on Shepherd and Georgia. This is a brand new store that has been coming up right in front of my eyes because I pass by it on the way to my work. They had demolished the old store and built a glitzy looking store to match the new upscale nature of the neighborhood. I must admit I enjoyed it and liked that they had a bigger organic section. I can only hope that this new trend of gentrification is for the better of the communities.
I got a carton of coconut water and sat by the window drinking and thinking for a while. Then I walked on Shepherd and 10th streets both of which were quiet. Once you reach Columbia Heights though, there is no such thing as a quiet street. I walked on 11th up to Euclid. I enjoyed passing through my old haunts, because I lived in that area from 2003 to 2012. I walked all the way to 19th Street, then down to Dupont Circle. I must have walked at least 6 miles totally. It was 5pm and almost dark now. The clock near the circle showed 51 degrees. Not many people seemed to want to sit on the benches in that weather. After sitting there for a few minutes and reminiscing about old times I went for dinner at Sweetgreen. As mentioned in previous post I ate there after the bike ride last week and love their environmentally friendly menu and practices. After that I got a hot chocolate at Starbucks and sat there reading my books and thinking about my mathematics problem. This particular Starbucks has a triangular room with large glass walls on two sides which gives you the feeling of just sitting outside and watching people moving around in Dupont Circle.
I enjoyed watching the people and it made me feel like a youngster again, when I used to come to this area during evenings and weekends hoping to meet that special woman. Although I did not meet Nicole here, I do have many good memories from those days and it is always a pleasure to go back. The walk and the sitting helped really clear my mind and all the troubles of the world seem so small and so far away. I got a feeling that everything was going to be alright, in the sense that God is present in everything and whatever happens has a purpose.

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