Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Day of Reflection

I had a good day. Slept late (or at least, late enough), took my time reserving travel and accommodation to NY, and then finally got going quite late in the day. Oh well, I am on vacation after all.

First stop: Rosa Mexicana for the pomegranate margarita, the tortilla soup (the vegetarian version), and an excellent vegetarian enchilada. Excellent, and I have to admit, the margarita made my head spin a little. Then a leisurely stroll to the mall, and straight off to the holocaust museum, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. Anyone who knows me really well will know that I have a strange obsession with the Holocaust. I had been to this museum before, but I did not have much time, so this time I really took my time. It was engrossing, and the approach to the exhibits reminded me of the Apartheid Museum back home. For some reason the sections that really got to me was the one on the medical experiments, and a picture of thousands of pounds of hair - shaved from the prisoners.

It made me think a lot of the inhumanity of man, and at the same time there were exhibits that exemplified the power of the human spirit, and the will to survive. It reminded me that people are more complex than the sometimes basic labels we attach to people: good-bad, rich-poor, Democrat-Republican, white-black, as if our entire being can be reduced to a single label.

A day of reflection indeed.

In case this is getting way too serious for you, I will switch topics immediately.

So, soon Bill and I are off to Clarendon soon for pizza - the perfect dinner on this cold night.

PS: Blast from the past - Bill sent me a message about the fact that Mary Wettrich is leaving CDC after 22 years. And so, in the words of Mary - See you later suckers!

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