Well, I drove to Pinckney, MI and joined in the anti-war rally that was staged by some high school students from Pinckney High School. This rally was held in a heavily Republican area, and there were a grand total of perhaps 15 participants. That would be me, another adult participant who seemed to know the students, the father of one of the protesters (and the family dog) and about 12 high school kids. The kids used magic markers to make signs, which we held up for the traffic to see. I was provided with a big peace sign, which I was happy to hold for about an hour. After that, I had to leave, as my medical condition makes me exquisitly sensitive to cold, and it was pretty cold out there. But, I went into a local diner and ran my hands under warm water in the rest room for about 15 minuets, and I seem to be just fine, or at least no worse than before.
A lot of aspects of the experience felt really good......
A big part of what made me feel good was personal. I just love the very liberating feeling I get whenever I put aside very important extremely urgent tasks that are absolutely essential to do immediately or the entire universe as I know it will cease to exist. I'm very grateful that these kids gave me an oppotunity to put that stuff aside and take a few hours to go hold up a peace sign. So far my universe seems pretty much the same except just some small number of people are somewhat more pissed at me. I, on the other hand, have re-asserted my priorities and my ability to govern my time according to my priorities, and my ability to survive despite the pissitude of a small number of people. All good things.
Obviously, we did not bring an end to the war by doing this, and I doubt we ever could. But, one of the things that made me feel really good was just being there and showing whoever drove by that I think it's bullshit what's goin on and I can't be shut up. Rights unexercised being rights lost and all that.
Another really fun aspect was watching the reactions of the motorists. The site of the protest was on the main street, in a spot where all the traffic in either direction had to pass. So, even though it was a little tiny town, it was a good traffic level. The whole hour I was there, we only got 1 finger. And, it was a meek, half-hearted finger at that, from a person who was not at all eager for further interpersonal communication. So, that was good. In contrast, we got lots of horn honks in support, and lot of friendly waving from the passing cars. It occured to me of course that many of the people driving by probably actually knew the kids standing there, this being a tiny little town just north of Hell. But still, signs of friendly recognition. So, that was very nice. There was also a good number of really quisical looks, as if it never occured to them that people would actually express political viewpoints on the street, let alone anti-war sentiments. Maybe a little tiny germ of a thought was put into some of those confused brains. Who knows? And, the largest class of all was those drivers who, while not hostile, tried to pretend they did not see us. I assure you, it was not possible to not see us. These kids did a great job of that-they made some good-size and colorful signs. So, you know the people who could not bear to look at us were the ones who are responsible for the criminals in power getting there, realise their complicity, realize in ther heart that they were wrong, and find it very unpleasant to face reality. At least that's how I choose to interpret it. And, it made me happy to smile at them and hold up a peace sign. Can you intellectually assault someone with a smile and a peace sign? That's what I did.
But, the most fun of all was talking to the leader of the group, a kid named Zack. He is a really good kid and might actually be a future progressive leader. I told him that I read about his group in the newspaper, along with the brief interview of him, and decided to join them. I live in a town about 20 miles away. It totally blew this guys mind that some old guy would actually read about him in the newspaper, get in their car, and drive 20 miles to stand in the cold and join in his effort. He was totally geeked. Then I told him just a few stories from back in the day, and he got really geeked. And, that was really really fun, because I like to think I help charged him up a bit.
All-in-all not a bad way to spend about 2 hours on a saturday morning.