Great expectations, great admiration and also great anxiety. Over the years, my key to begin to understand the US is to distinguish between America, Americans and the American Government; they are of course not necessarily the same thing. When they come together, usually great and good things happen, but when they diverge or gets fractured as it is now, it begets an age of anxiety… For the US and therefore the world.

Visits to DC are not quite complete without paying homage and visiting its great museums and especially the magnificent memorials of Lincoln, Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. I could not help note that the Jefferson Memorial was under scaffolding and repair, Lincoln overlooks everything and everyone but it was necessary to put a big “Quiet, Respect Please” sign, while some of the words of MLK were somewhat in the dark as some lights were off and “I have a dream” was somehow not illuminated! Still, to dip deep into the well of the founding fathers, for freedom, liberty, justice and pursuit of happiness are great universal truths; in turn inspired and shaped by clear references into the fount of truth in the Abrahamic faiths (including Jefferson, who studied the Holy Quran, that was used to swear in Keith Ellison as a congressman).

Alhamdullilah, reunion with Zayd 💟 into his senior year at Georgetown, all the very best Yang…, and with Fuad and Reda from the IMF, my old buddy Steve Diamond, Imam Hemdi the Muslim chaplain of Georgetown University and Zayd’s roommates, Miguel, Casey and Harry. The streetscape, shops and cool people of Georgetown on a beautiful weekend, and an edgy evening on H Street trying out the free streetcar (revived after a 50 year hiatus) were wonderful bonuses for us. Left for Detroit on the Capitol train to Chicago, a 16 hour journey. Today, day 57 of 77 of KK 2019 is where we part ways for now: having been together since day 8, Mas flies home via Abu Dhabi tonight InsyaAllah, take care Yang. Alhamdullilah. 🙏⚖️🇺🇸

9 September 2019