I live an hour west of DC and have grown up seeing all the monuments and memorials, but the first time I really remember was when I was in third grade. Our class took a day trip to visit and tour the famous Washington monuments. This was a trip that was usually reserved for the nice and sunny spring days when the cherry blossoms were blooming. However, my class took the trip on a cold and rainy day.

Cold and wet, our class marched around growing more and more miserable. The wind seemed to be growing stronger and stronger making me feel colder and more miserable. This trip that had been fun in the past had become something of a nightmare.

My class approached Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial, the famous black, reflective wall carved with the names of the fallen. Every time I had seen it before it was full of students and people looking at their reflection. It was always hard to have a profoundly personal moment because it was being shared with so many others. This time, however, it was empty. No other class had braved the rain, there were no tourists and it was silent.

Stepping down into the memorial I suddenly noticed that I was out of the wind because the wall had created a buffer and insulated the space. I no longer noticed how cold it was. We had seen many monuments before this particular one, but none had a huge effect on my. In truth, I was counting down the minutes till we could get back on the bus and go home. My whole class had spent the whole day complaining and whining.

MY whole class shared this experience together, yet each student had their own personal moment. The talking stopped and friends stepped aside from each other. Girls dropped their linked arms and the boys stopped pushing. We all looked into the wall and at our distorted reflections.

For the rest of the trip no one voiced a complaint, the wall had reminded us all that we were lucky. It was as a reminder to us of those that served.

For me this was the first profound moment I had with a monument. Growing up seeing them I struggle to identify what I had seen first, but I will never forget this moment I had as the Vietnam memorial.

-Charlotte MacDonald