noticing people

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

In praise of the 1st amendment

I just got back from NYC. I went last weekend to say my 2 cents against the war, me and what the newspapers say were 299,999 other people. I was marching with the labour contingent. A good place to march. You see, even though I count as a member of the effete liberal intelligentsia, the effete liberal intelligentsia piss me off. I came from a hard working family and their money, which is income and not wealth, gets used up before the month is over. So, people whose parents paid for their college and grad school and have never lacked for anything decrying social injustice over a latte make me want to scream. If they actually think that social injustice is bad, they could put their latte money towards the tuition of a student who joined the military in order to go to college. There is a difference between bitching over a latte and actually doing something. I bought a T shirt: “Stop bitching and start a revolution.” My new favorite shirt.

I was marching with people who reminded me of home. There was a woman bent over two canes, saying nothing, her head was down, she was just walking. There were men who got their hot bodies from lifting heavy things at work instead of at a health club. Foreman as personal trainer--you don't lift stuff, you don't get paid. There were people whose faces were lined by a hard life. There were women with their children. These were everyday folk with something to say. People who know that the money spent in Iraq would be enough to fund social security for the next 75 years. People who are angry that their taxes are being spent occupying a country where Americans aren’t wanted, instead of paying for education and health care. People who are furious that their brothers and sisters are the victims of stop loss programs. People whose families and friends are the ones who are actually dying in this illegal war.

I was proud to be in their company. It gave me hope. How could anyone ignore us?

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