***(Editor’s Note:  Josh McGrath is a Columnist and Collegiate Commentator for “The Thirsty Quill.”  Josh is currently a student at Wingate University, but has been reporting for ‘The Quill’ from Washington, DC over the past few days. As always, we appreciate Josh’s commitment and service to “The Thirsty Quill.”)***

“FINAL REPORT: Inauguration Update #11″

By: Josh McGrath, Columnist

If the swearing-in of Barack Obama as our 44th President yesterday was the high point, consider the afternoon that followed (one filled of pure chaos), was the low point.

As the Inauguration came to a close, people fled The Mall as if a gun had gone off. With a group of 55, over half of my fellow students wound up separated and lost from our leaders. We had a designated “meeting point” for such a time as this, but the city of D.C. had closed every road leading to this designated “meeting point.” Our leaders immediately led us out of the mob of people trying to flee the city and began to plan their next move, which turned out to be a “plan” to simply call the lost students. We eventually got a hold of (or found) all but 5 students. That is a miracle considering the cell phone towers were being worked overtime, making phone calls next to impossible. 

We began to head to our originally planned Metro station, only to find out that the city had closed that station due to an overload of people. We then decided to walk a mile South to a Metro station on the other side of the National Mall. 

As we crossed the now empty Mall, it was embarrassing to see the amount of trash on the ground. Hundreds of the free American flags (that were passed out only 6 hours earlier) were thrown, treaded, and destroyed. It made me wonder how many Americans were proud to waive that flag just 4 hours prior. Despite the fact that the flags were free, I felt as though many people cared more for Obama than for our country. 

To make it worse, trash layered the entire city of D.C. I had never in my life seen such a disgusting city. It was impossible to walk down the streets of D.C. and not step on trash from the 2 million extra people who had been there. Considering that most Democrats are extremely environmentally conscience, I was extraordinarily surprised by the actions of the pro-Democratic gathering. I honestly cannot put into words the amount of trash we saw on the roads and sidewalks. It was just phenomenal how much trash accumulated. The trash carpeted all of D.C.

We finally arrived, only to find yet another closed station (this time due to Obama’s upcoming parade). No Metros (which would pass under Obama’s motorcade) were allowed to operate. We then decided to walk an additional mile or so to another Metro station for a different line…meanwhile, we were still missing about 5 members of our group. 

The line to enter the Metro station led out of the station…and nearly 2 blocks down the road. Nevertheless, this station was still in order. An hour later, we have moved about a good half-block…when the FBI closed this Metro station as well. I would later find out that the closing was due to a woman being hit by a train! By this time it was nearly 5pm, and none of us had eaten anything other than the granola bar and Pop-Tart we had for breakfast (at 2am). Furthermore, since we arrived on The Mall at 5am, we had hardly sat down or rested our feet.

We then decided to walk clear across the city to a church just outside of Chinatown. However, we ran into a problem along the way.

It was at this time when I realized that on every corner in the city was a Humvee and a minimum of 2 armed soldiers. Over half of the roads in D.C. were off limits and blockaded. The church itself was about 3 miles North of where we were located. Every direction the church leaders had given us would turn out to be restricted or “off limits.” We ended up walking toward the Capital Building. It was incredible to be within 20 yards of the building, which looks like it is made entirely of white marble. Until I got close enough to see people working inside of it, I never realized just how large it truly is.

By the time we arrived at the church, it was nearly 7pm. The sun had gone down, taking with it the temperature. If we thought we were cold walking around during the day, we found a whole level at night: sub-zero. By the time we got to the church, the temperature had dropped to around 10 degrees, with a wind chill factor of probably close to -25. 

The church served us all dinner. To illustrate just how hungry I was, I went back for thirds…and was still hungry afterwards. They could have served us leather, and I think we would have eaten it. An hour later, we decided to leave and go back to the camp where we had stayed the previous two nights.

As we walked down the road to a now open and clear Metro station, I didn’t feel like an American living in America. I felt like a refugee, living in a country that had been plagued by wars, famines, and poverty. Road blocks were everywhere. I never understood why people destroy their city when a good thing happens, like when a city’s professional sports team wins the championship. But that’s exactly what happened last night. Obama became president, and D.C. went crazy. Our nation’s capital truly became the trash can and toilet for millions of Americans. It was sad, pathetic, and disgraceful.

I finally got out of the city by about 10pm. We were originally going to drive home after the Inauguration, but due to circumstances, we decided to stay at the camp one more night. We ended up leaving at 4:30am. That brings my total sleep since Friday morning to about 16 hours. I’ve gotten the recommended amount of sleep for two nights, I just spread it out over five. As we left the city and headed to our campgrounds, we stopped at a restaurant. It was there that one of my friends noticed the color of my skin: purple…I was still freezing. In fact, I didn’t warm up at all until I finally took a shower that night around midnight. I went from about 2am-11pm literally chilled to the bone.

I look back at this whole week. A lot of unbelievable things happened to me that I haven’t even mentioned in these articles. We eventually found everyone in our group, even though one of the students lost was from Africa and did not own a cell phone. In my opinion, the government did a phenomenal job of protecting Obama. On nearly every building stood some form of security throughout the entire day (not to mention the military personnel located at every corner in D.C.). Yet, the government absolutely failed with the post-Inauguration procedures in regard to how to orderly file 2 million people out of the city.

I’ve been asked if this was all worth it? Right now, I don’t know. Tuesday was hell. I dressed in as many layers as I could pack, and yet I was still unbearably cold the entire day. At one point, I was shaking and shivering uncontrollably. Despite all of this, I know that when my kids and grandkids begin to study Barack Obama, I can say that I was there. I can say I saw it firsthand. I can tell them a story that they would never learn from any textbook. I lived it…