A Few Memorable Days in Pittsburgh

I spent a few days in Pittsburgh in August on the occasion of my son's wedding. It was only my second visit to this city in Western Pennsylvania, on the threshold of the Midwest.


The wedding ceremony took place in the Heinz Chapel, built on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh with Heinz money and inspired by the Sainte Chapelle of Paris (tall and thin, with amazingly high stained glass windows).



Amid religious themes, one can see homages to historical, artistic or scientific figures,such as this allegorical image of Abraham Lincoln raising a black man from slavery.


Next to the chapel, the Cathedral of Learning stands high and proud, a landmark of the University of Pittsburgh. I visited it the day after the wedding.

A large gathering of Indians had taken over the main hall on the ground floor of the building and were holding a festival to celebrate India's National Day. The colorful Indian dresses and saris were standing out in this austere and cavernous hall.


India's National Day is August 15, but Indians worked that day in the US, and they were holding this festival two days later on a Sunday. Both the Indian and US flags were stretched on an elaborate iron gate on each side of an image of Gandhi, and the US national anthem was sung before the Indian anthem. It was moving to see these immigrants thus honoring their new home on the day celebrating the independence of their country of origin.

Then a group of dancers performed a traditional dance on classical Indian music. It was a magnificent show, which I could see only from the back, behind that iron gate.






Where else than in the United States would such a scene take place? It was a reminder that the US, vilified by the left-wing media, hated by many for its power and wealth, and for the fact that it has on several occasions helped them to win wars and keep their freedom against oppressive and totalitarian regimes (it is unpleasant and humiliating to feel in debt), still is a beacon of hope and a land of opportunity, where immigrants flock to build better lives for themselves and their families, a country built not on race and tribe, but on the luminous ideal of living in freedom, and in pursuit of happiness.