Point Reno – The beauties of Washington D.C. – Another sad COVID story – Donald Trump manages to surprise again – Evening statistics
In pursuit of my new goal of covering state high points in the region I went to Point Reno today in Tenleytown. It is strange to reflect that in all of the years I’ve lived in the DC metro area, I have never been there before. But in truth it is not especially interesting in itself. It is a pleasant municipal park and nothing more. The geodesic marker occurs on a very modest eminence (a little over 400 feet above sea level) from which the ground slopes at a slight gradient and much of the surrounding area is little more than 50 feet lower, so that the views at the top of the hill are not especially dramatic.
Still, the excursion gave me a chance to visit downtown Washington again, which I’ve hardly done at all since March. How beautiful the city is! Whatever else may be said about the United States, we have reason to be proud of our national capital. It was not always so; during much of the 19th century it was raw and unfinished and inelegant, according to many reports from foreign visitors. Even as recently as 1960 John Kennedy famously described it as a city of “Northern charm and Southern efficiency.” It has taken a long time for it to come into its own, but it has bloomed during the decades that I have lived in the area, its architecture an admirable mix of old and new set perfectly within the natural setting of piedmont hills with a network of various creeks draining into the broad Potomac and with numerous earthen footpaths connecting various neighborhoods with one another. We owe, in addition, a debt of gratitude to the restriction that limited the height of the buildings and prevented the downtown from being transformed into a wilderness of skyscrapers – as is the case of Manhattan, for instance, where the buildings’ gloomy shadows engulf Central Park during nearly every hour of the day. One must also mention, in this connection, the administration of Anthony Williams, who not only improved services, lowered tax rates, and upgraded the performance of city agencies, but who managed to revitalize and in some cases redesign several neighborhoods that were in a state of decline. The neighborhood immediately north of the Mall, for instance, which had been rather shabby during the time I was growing up, is now exciting and bustling, full of activity.
This has been one of the consequences of the virus: the opportunities for visiting the city have diminished because of the dangers of using public transportation. Driving in the city streets always remains difficult and parking can be quite an issue in some neighborhoods; and in the past I always used the Metro to travel to the city. I hesitate to use the Metro now, at any rate as long as the risk of infection continues to loom as large as it currently does.
As an illustration thereof, I came across yet another sad story today. Vanessa Gonzalez of Whittier, CA, was diagnosed with COVID 19 days before she delivered her daughter. She was not allowed to hold her child for fear of infecting the infant and could see her only via Facetime on her cellphone. As matters turned out, she never had the opportunity to hold her child by hand. Two days after she was discharged (during which time she was quarantined from her family members) she suffered a heart attack induced by the virus and died less than a month later. The bereaved husband not only has the daughter but two young sons to look after on his own. It’s easy to forget, when looking at statistics, the suffering of the individuals that these figures represent. There are thousands of stories like these, and they are increasing daily.
Donald Trump has not said much about challenging the election results in recent days but he has still managed to slip in some strange eccentricities. Of all things – he started abusing John McCain a couple of nights ago: McCain, who could not possibly represent a threat to Trump in any way, having been dead for more than two years. As one of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings says about “Sharkey” (actually Saruman using an alias) giving orders to fell and burn trees, pollute the air and water, and mess up the environment generally without providing the slightest financial improvement, “There’s no longer even any bad sense in it.” What can he possibly hope to gain from such behavior? The only effect it can have is to alienate the very people upon whom he is depending to support his continued challenges to Biden’s victory. There are not many cases of sheer personal spite being stronger than one’s self-interest, and it is rare indeed to see a public display of such an emotion in the political world; but our President is an exception to all rules, particularly those that involve self-respect and any sense of decency.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 76,600,942; # of deaths worldwide: 1,691,113; # of cases U.S.: 18,073,736; # of deaths; U.S.: 323,391.