Journey To The Stone of Hope

This past week, I tagged along with a group of teens and adults from Fort Myers who took a charter bus to Washington D.C. to witness the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. 19 hours in a bus made me think a lot about what these youngsters were seeing. Most of these kids had never been to Washington D.C. and several have not been outside the state of Florida.

At first, I wondered, "Why is this girl taking a picture of the road outside a truck stop?" and "Why is she holding on so tight to the subway bar?"

Then, I see where they're coming from. To me this isn't new but to some of them, one truck stop may look completely different than anything in Fort Myers and the sudden jerk of a subway train could feel a lot more abrasive to them than to me. I can be wrong though. Who knows?

It felt great to walk through such historical grounds with such a young group. They're teens and I could tell a good amount of them tried to keep a certain teenage cool about them. I tried to do it when I was their age too but I noticed a difference when we got to places like the Washington Memorial and the same church where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered so many historical sermons. There were looks of awe, curiosity, and surprise.

Aside a couple of long bus rides, it was great to be a part of this trip. Below are some of my favorite photos from the weekend of travel. Thanks for looking.