One of the chants is "Show me what democracy looks like... This is what democracy looks like...."
(I have decided. The solution to all bad weather is for me to stay home.) I did not vote for years. One reason being my transitory nature, the other being a huge fear of being on a jury. (I know I know... just file it under the phobia category and forget about it.) I don't remember the eureka moment... suffice it to say it didn't involve me running down the street naked.* It was more like an alright already.
A friend of mine, who was in the same Peace Corps group as myself, had been arrested protesting Vietnam. She worried that that might mess up her application for Peace Corps. It didn't. One of my memories is of her dancing in a bar, and another one, and another one... and she pulled me out of the way of a bus one time. My shoe, left behind, was run over. Then there was that funny Christmas... and the hurricane. Can't forget the hurricane. It wasn't much really. But between the vodka and the critters seeking shelter in our same hut... It was highly entertaining... peering out as the shower blew away. And there was the time we tried to entice a burro into a hotel room. Dunno why... it was there we were there a why not sorta moment I suppose.
In the years since Peace Corps my friend has died. "This is what democracy looks like.... Show me what democracy looks like..."
The route through downtown Providence was circuitous, mildly put. As our cold damp group wound its chanting way, one elderly fellow kept shaking off the rain from his umbrella so that the sign he'd taped there "War Veteran" would stay. He was a dapper sort, smiling as we took yet another odd turn.
"Show me what democracy looks like... This is what democracy looks like...." Yes there were more chants. But that's the one that sticks with me. I know some peace activists have been arrested for this war. It's hard for me to imagine. My own sign "Money for Healthcare not Warfare" I'd forgotten at home.
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3 comments:
The running naked down the street yelling "Eureka" involved a scientist in a bathtub that discovered something about displacement or something like that.
"Eureka" has kept that odd visual for me.
Good for you. Standing up for what you believe in is always high on the list of things I appreciate in other people.
One reason being my transitory nature, the other being a huge fear of being on a jury
I am so in touch with that! That is one of the main reasons I never registered to vote either.
Great sign you would have been holding. That is the reason TO vote now.
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