book knowledge v. wisdom

A 60-year-old, native Washingtonian woman, spoke to me today about the changes she has seen since she was a child living in the NE section of DC. She laughed as she looked up at the work building is in saying, 'every year these workman come with their scaffolds to fix the bricks. when we they learn that the ground will continue to shift and they should stop building on top of the river?'

We crossed a bridge from Georgetown toward Farrgut West station and she said, "None of these buildings used to be here. We used to call this the low country because it was nothing but water. Now, every couple months these poor workmen are out having to replace the bricks that are cracking, plumbers are coming out because of water issues for the buildings, and architects are recommending to tear down yet another building due to structural integrity issues. Foggy Bottom used to be a Shantytown."

She told me when she was being raised, she had volunteered in an old folks home. In that home, she learned that once upon a time the land around Howard University was all woods. Then, as a kid, she remembers the land having the big house on the hill and the old Griffith stadium being built. Now, that old stadium is howard university hospital. "All of this land," she said, "was once just swamp." One day, we agreed, it is likely that the river will want its land back.
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On the Smithsonian tour, I learned that the castle was once on an island. The entire area that we now know as The Mall was once water. The town of Washington thought of the castle as a laughing stock, because it was the third largest building in town, yet it was on an island. How, pretell, were people supposed to visit a museum on the middle of an island they laughed.
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She also spoke to me of the DC riots after Martin Luther King was shot. She said all of the NE was under riots and it only failed to spread to the NW area of DC because the National Guard guarded the line between the two areas of the city. After those riots many blacks left their homes in NE. Those houses that she knew as "rowhouses" now sell for millions of dollars as "townhouses." Same house, new marketing = higher price. Now she fears that if anything were to happen to Obama, if the man even stubs his toe (her expression), she fears that the entire city would erupt. She said that "White folks would have to run as far as Viriginia to get away from the rage."
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What's interesting is that I returned to DC on Sunday night to Foggy Bottom (which once upon a time was more swamp land). The building I am living in will have its water shut down due to settling. Hmm. Though I enjoy reading, I think it's time to start focusing on getting some more wisdom.