ReaganSauce

written by MLM

"a Manhattan Night Sky 'Ah-Ha' Moment"

I've wanted to live in New York City since I was a little girl. This desire to move to the Big Apple was only accelerated once Carrie Bradshaw became one of my listed heroes right along side Thomas Jefferson. After living in the city for almost two years now, I have these moments where I look up and say "Wow, I really am here. I live in New York City!" This is what I call an "Ah-Ha" moment.

Now some define an 'Ah-Ha' moments as realizing something for the first time, however I define it as anytime you feel the need to say the word "wow" with a dazed look on your face and a smile in relation to your current life moment. This could in fact feel as if it is the first time, everytime.

I've recently been contemplating my place in New York City and if it is where I choose to stay now that I have finished my MBA, and these 'Ah-Ha' moments definitely brighten my thoughts and could possibly even steer me in my choices. Now, where's the politics in this article you ask? Great question but I have a better one. Do the 435 members of Congress ever have this feeling?

There are 435 people sitting in the House and Senate buildings each with a staff of at least five, representing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. They write the laws of the most powerful country, they can declare war, they can make good or make bad, does this not strike you as the description of the most awesome job in the world?

I worked on Capitol Hill during the summer of 2006, you know what happened every time I walked into the Rotunda to give a tour, I looked up at that mural full of history and said "I am here, this is amazing, now Maegs turn attention back to the constituents!" This happened practically everyday if not more. How could these 435 people not? Sitting on the House floor at the desk where there is still a gunshot mark from the Puerto Rican Nationalists entered the room in 1954. I mean you live, work, and breathe American history everyday, and not only do you experience you make it!

From the recent acts, battles, and statements of today's Congressmen and women in the most recent months, I truly question their reality of their position. An entire district, state, and country have faith in you and they want you to represent them. If this is not humbling, I do not know what is. I would hope that everyone of those 435 members take a step back and look around them and experience the 'Ah-ha' moment, at least once a week, if not daily, hourly, and second.

[Before moving to New York, I was bored and went through some old family photo albums, there was a picture of me from a family trip I took when I was about six years old. I was sitting on the top of the infamous double decker tour buses, staring up at the buildings in the financial district, and the caption read "When I grow up I'm going to live here." Guess what? I am currently typing away from my high-rise Financial District building. Tonight I went out on my roof and had a phone call with my father who was back in Virginia, I looked up at the sky and had yet another "Ah-Ha" moment.]

Article also published on the examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/x-43648-Manhattan-Republican-Examiner~y2010m4d8-Wanted-An-AhHa-Moment-for-Congress