Our protest has ended the war!
Shawn and I drove to D.C. yesterday to attend my first ever march; a peace march against the war. Shawn brought a sign he's used in various other past marches, one that reads "Do You Feel Safe Yet?" I found a generic sign on the side of the road and held it up for awhile before Shawn and I got into a non-peaceful squabble about how much room it took up and I abandoned it on the side of the street. I don't really have the personality for marches or protests or organizing. I get embarrassed when people chant things like, "This is what democracy looks like!" or, "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" I admire the people who don't feel stupid doing that, but I feel self-conscious. I even thought Shawn was whistling too loudly.
An excellent mixture of people which I guess is what you want though of course CNN's online article about it is accompanied by a photograph of some lon-haired, bearded hippie dude in a knit hat. In real life, there were college kids (and not just in tie-dye...I saw many marchers who, taken out of context, I would've assumed were sorority or fraternity family-bred Republicans), families, older people, Vietnam vets, some soldiers who had been to Iraq already. I wish I would've written text from the signs we saw; I'd ask Shawn but we're sort of in a fight right now because I leaned over his shoulder while he was reading about the protest and scrolled down, causing him to lose his place and say, Goddamnit! Don't be an asshole! or something like that. It's awesome that you can participate in an event meant to end conflict on a global scale but remain unable to get along with the person standing next to you.
After the march, we stayed for about half of the free concert; heard Cindy Sheehan speak and listened to country singer Steven Earle and the articulate poetry/speech of a basketball player from some team I never heard of. Shawn felt hopeful afterwards, but I honestly don't know how much difference it will make since this administration has never given a shit what the people think anyway.
An excellent mixture of people which I guess is what you want though of course CNN's online article about it is accompanied by a photograph of some lon-haired, bearded hippie dude in a knit hat. In real life, there were college kids (and not just in tie-dye...I saw many marchers who, taken out of context, I would've assumed were sorority or fraternity family-bred Republicans), families, older people, Vietnam vets, some soldiers who had been to Iraq already. I wish I would've written text from the signs we saw; I'd ask Shawn but we're sort of in a fight right now because I leaned over his shoulder while he was reading about the protest and scrolled down, causing him to lose his place and say, Goddamnit! Don't be an asshole! or something like that. It's awesome that you can participate in an event meant to end conflict on a global scale but remain unable to get along with the person standing next to you.
After the march, we stayed for about half of the free concert; heard Cindy Sheehan speak and listened to country singer Steven Earle and the articulate poetry/speech of a basketball player from some team I never heard of. Shawn felt hopeful afterwards, but I honestly don't know how much difference it will make since this administration has never given a shit what the people think anyway.
Comments
It is not the administration that doesn't 'give a shit what the people think' that we should be concerned about, but the system that enables agovernment to NOT 'give a shit what the people think' that should be a cause for worry.