In case you've forgotten it was the 7th anniversary of the Iraq war yesterday. Exactly a year ago, I got up from my armchair and joined the anti-war protest with hundreds of others who felt enough was enough. A year has gone by with the President of change who has become a just another war time President. But this post is not about the politics.
As I showed up to wave a few peace banners, I was struck by the fact that the crowd seemed smaller than last year and much older. Were these the people who came out during the '60s and are still holding the banners? If so where is my generation and the ones after me? This was a point of discussion i had with a peace activist at the protest. Countless distractions for the young in a beach town like ours he said.
It was quite a struggle to mute the cynic in me to head out to the protest and i am glad i had a friend with me who wanted to show up too. Are we changing anything, is anyone listening... yeah yeah i've heard the famous quote from Margaret Mead a few hundred times... still a few hundred people in a county of over 3M not enough to make the headlines as we had far greater things to cover like spring break in our beaches.
Then i heard a young 20 something veteran at the protest describing his tour of duty in Iraq. His body had enough evidence to describe his experience, and he is one of the lucky ones! He is here today, alive and protesting along with other veterans against war. Just to stand by his side with my banner was enough to ask the cynic in me to shut up!
So there it is, I stood for an hour on the roadside for peace and to my little one's question "Why mommy?" i had to say "Why not dear". "Can I come next time?" she asked. "I hope you don't have to" I thought.
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