I Can See Clearly Now.
I took this photo in Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2012. It was probably the last time I was there.
At first glance, the tree in front of Martin Luther King Jr. seems to be the thing obscuring the view. We can see his face and parts of his memorial through the branches, but never all at once. Look across the photograph, though, and the Washington Monument is obscured too. The trees hide its base, so we can’t see its full length.
I like that about this picture now. We get a glimpse of each, but not the whole of either one.
Perhaps that is a lesson of history. We can study a person’s words and actions, visit the places that honor them, and still see only so much. The stories we tell about people are shaped by what remains in view and what gets left out.
And yet a glimpse can matter. Even through the leaves, King’s face holds my attention. Even without its base, the Washington Monument is unmistakable against the sky. We may never know all there is to know about another person. Sometimes, though, what we can see is great and rare enough to make us stop, look again, and want to understand more.
I kept this photograph mainly because of King. There was such a pushback to his having a memorial in Washington. History doesn’t allow us to imagine such a pushback against one to Washington. I mean, the city is named after him and he is the ‘father of the country.’ Though history does have some things to say about how he conducted himself and his business. But history is written by mem. So, like the trees, we will get to see some parts of each other but not all.