Today was the second anniversary of a monthly Peace stand that I've participated in and helped organize. Our numbers on the third Friday of every month are between 6 and 15 people each time. Rarely a new face, but today there was one. Thanks Russell!
In my 20 or so stands on those Fridays, I've heard nearly every slur that a creative motorist/passenger could come up with. Often with a quick roll of the window down, spewing of the mouth, and then a quick roll up of the window. Often this is followed by the assailant's stare straight ahead so as not to have to make eye contact with the "victims". I know the antagonist is not talking to me when he says, "Your wasting your time." It must be someone else in the group he is referring too. (I know I've been using the male pronouns here, but I've yet to have a woman whip me the bird or say something derogatory to me at that corner, so get over it if your sensitized to male pronouns.)
The reason I'm so sure that they are not speaking to me is that I'm so certain I'm not. I've seen results. Results like, when I first started standing against the war in Iraq it was before the war started. Back then it was at least 10 -15 slurs/hour. Now we only get 2 or 3 per hour at most. Often it's only 1. Progress.
The other reason I'm so sure they are not talking to me is I'm even more determined now than I was back when I was a young man, just before we started the "Shock and Awe". People, don't you realize that the only ones shocked were the citizens of the United States. And about the awe, well I'm quite sure many still stand in awe on how we as citizens can still wage these wars. Bring death and destitution to hundreds of thousands while we slowly work towards our own destruction. All in the name of god, country and the dollar. But I digress...
It's tough growing up with war. Hell, I was born during the Korean war and well lets face it folks, if you are from my generation (and quite possibly any generation in America) you've lived with your fellow citizens waging wars on foreign soil pretty much your entire life.
So, I'm not giving up any time soon. You'll see me on the corner of Hastings Way and Brackett Avenue every third Friday of every month from 5:00 - 6:00 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Until the wars end. And once these wars end, I'm sure there will hardly be time for dust to settle on my sign before I need to grab it again.
Oh ya, if you are one of those trolls that reads Uppity Wisconsin to see what the 'radical commie" left is doing, or perhaps you are a member of law enforcement or some agency with three letter acronyms and you want to know which one of those 6 - 15 people is the guy that "needs to be watched". I'm the guy with the white hair. Strike that, there several of us. Rather, I'm the guy with the determined look on his face and white hair. Determined to keep standing for peace as long as we wage the wars.
For my first entry on Uppity I would like to end with a quote from Howard Zinn, a true American hero that passed this year. He was still standing for peace in his final year of life. -saw-
“On Mayday in Washington thousands of us were arrested for disturbing the peace. But there is no peace. We were really arrested because we were disturbing the war.” Howard Zinn May, 1971