(Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com)
Even the two ducks apparently thought the water at the supposedly refurbished Reflecting Pool in Washington looked too dirty for them to dip in.
Rather than splash their way in, the ducks stood at the water’s edge, no doubt debating their course of action. A few seconds later, they ducked out from the hot sun to waddle their way back into the tree-lined shade at the Washington National Mall on this broiling humid D.C. afternoon.
I had immediately noticed these lame ducks when I made my own personal inspection of the Reflecting Pool. My purpose: to see whether it reflected the vast improvement that Donald Trump claims he has orchestrated.
With Abraham Lincoln sitting high in his chair at the Lincoln Memorial watching over the crowds below him, a tourist approached me and remarked with obvious disdain, “It sure looks the same.” He was referring to the water that had a grayish hue before Trump ordered the color changed as part of his planned renovation of the Reflecting Pool. Trump said that while he is president, the pool would be made “perfect.”
(Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com)
For sure, I didn’t see my reflection when I stared at the water. Maybe I was colorblind or in a daze, overheated from the sun, but the water looked blackish, not “American flag blue,” Trump’s desired color scheme that came with a reported price tag of $13.1 million, being paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
Leaves floated around in the water, and I thought I spotted algae growing by the pool wall. All that slime was supposed to be gone, considering the money spent on making the pool picture perfect.
According to news reports, photos and videos have appeared to show newly applied blue paint peeling away from the pool’s surface, along with blooming of algae.
Trump has said the pool will probably need to be drained for more repairs. He has blamed the pool’s poor condition on vandalism.
(Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com)
“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed,” wrote Trump.
Not to be critical, but one wonders whether spending that $13.1 million might be better used for something more productive, such as increasing the social safety net for the country’s underserved population that would include, for instance, more funding for the supplemental nutrition assistance program.
That same thought about priorities might also hold true for Trump’s other expensive transformations for D.C., like building a 250-foot-high so-called “triumphal arch” by Arlington National Cemetery, or constructing a new ballroom on the site where contractors had demolished the East Wing at the White House.
If I were in charge of redoing the Reflecting Pool, my first order of business would be to turn its water into the color of orange satin. That would match the complexion of Trump’s oddly orange face, or to one of the horses being ridden by a U.S. Park Policeman passing by on patrol as I cooled off on a tree-sheltered bench. Not to beat a dead horse, but the Reflecting Pool seemed not to have changed much at all.
(Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com)
If visitors finally get enough of the pool, they can always wander over to a nearby structure Trump has named for himself: The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, which is across the street from the State Department. At least, Trump hasn’t tried yet to change that agency’s name to another moniker celebrating himself -- perhaps in the vein of King Louis XIV’s “L’Etat, c’est moi.”
Not far away is another place where Trump attempts to ensure no one ever forgets his name--the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. That was before a federal judge ordered Trump’s name be removed, ruling that it was added illegally.
I circled once more around the Reflecting Pool, debating like those ducks whether the water was clean enough to dip a hand in to measure its temperature and maybe wash my sweaty face. Even if swimming, wading, or dipping your feet in the water is explicitly prohibited, I hadn’t read anywhere whether dipping in your hand is also disallowed.
(Photo Credit: Depositphotos.com)
But Mother Nature suddenly made its presence felt. That’s when what looked like bird doo-doo in the water abruptly popped up. Needless to say, I steered completely clear of the water.
I say, let the ducks do their version of skinny-dipping in the pool if that is their wont. But I’d discourage such action. Not after my day spent reflecting that even with all that money spent, apparently both ducks and humans realize that Trump’s renovated Reflecting Pool still is far from "perfect."
As it turns out, trying to produce such a work of art wouldn’t exactly be, with all apologies to the Marx Brothers, duck soup.
Author Bio:
Eric Green, a Highbrow Magazine contributor, is a former newspaper reporter, U.S. congressional press aide, English-as-a-second-language teacher, and now a freelance writer in the Washington D.C. area. His articles have appeared in various newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.
For Highbrow Magazine