Asheville is a part of the Occupy Wall Street movement that is now active in more than 400 cities and towns across the country.
And this has happened in less than three weeks.
Many of us old timers from the 1960s wondered when this day would come.
And I can only keep my fingers crossed that this day has truly arrived.
For once I'm seeing young people take leadership and run with it, while we elders look on with pride, deep pride.
People are camping out in this movement. Local restaurants are feeding activists at no charge. Other businesses are signing up as supporters of the local and national occupation.
What is particularly exciting is that this is an inclusive movement. It isn't Democratic or Republican. It's not another version of the Tea Party. Nor is it the Greens or Libertarians. Instead it is all of these. What do occupiers have in common? They see that there is something seriously wrong in this country. They are also among the 99 percent of this country who are trying to live right but find themselves losing ground on a daily basis.
Occupiers may be teachers or cops. They may be people with advanced degrees or the homeless. (And sometimes, folks, these people are one in the same.)
These people are tired of a system that gives the other 99 percent crumbs from the other 1 percent's table. We often hear about feeding the hungry, providing a bed for the homeless or giving school supplies to poor children.
Charity is wonderful. Many people wouldn't be here today if someone hadn't provided them a little charity at one time or another. But charity provides very little self respect, nor does it require a society that is based on a system of justice and equality and the opportunities for everyone to be in pursuit of happiness.
People want to pull their own weight in society. All they are asking for is a level playing field. And right now Wall Street, often with the blessings of our elected leaders, are on top of a steep mountain and pushing the rest of us down further and further because they want it all for themselves. We eat up the crumbs that fall from their tables as they feast at the top of the mountain.
Meanwhile I daily see in my job people who live in their truck, people who have been foreclosed on, who have moved back in with their parents, people who can't find work or can't get transportation. I see persons who are sick and can't get medical care, or those who live with other injustices that shouldn't be a part of a society that is built on equality and justice for all.
So tomorrow or next week give a smile or a dollar to your local Occupy activist, whether that person be your neighbor or that stranger downtown. This isn't a movement of the poor against the rich. It's the poor and middle class against the very rich who have finagled they system at the expense of the rest of us.
There are no specific demands at this time. Occupy activists are not corporate. They are organic. They will have demands as their new brand of grassroots democracy takes shape. There is still time for you to put in your two cents worth. No matter what your age, your ethnicity or your shape or gender, you are welcome to be a part of a historic movement, Occupy Wall Street in YOUR state, maybe even your town.
Savor this opportunity! Meditate on it! Then act as you are led.