Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Peace Vigil # 38, October 09, 2007

The weather was very windy and blustery. The temperature said 47 at the bank, but with the wind, it seemed much colder. Seven people withstood the conditions and attended this weeks Peace Vigil.

A young man walked by and chose to cross Main Street right where we were standing instead bof at the crosswalk at the corner. He waited at the curb, and just when the roadway was clear and he started to walk across the street, he said to one of the protesters, "You're not an American unless you put down that flag." He was speaking to Mrs. Spadoman who always holds the flag with the peace sign in white on a light blue field.

When he got to the business destination across the street, he looked back and said loudly, "They brought down our buildings."

When he returned to public view, I confronted him and calmly said that I am a Veteran. I have seen war first hand and that I thought I fought for the rights of all Americans to have their own opinion. I went on to say that I thought that is what freedom is.

The young man said he wasn't talking to me, but the person with the peace flag.

The whole ordeal made absolutely no sense.

Other than that, the usual horn honking and waving throughout the whole time of the Vigil. It was cold. We all pretty much know that we will probably have to stand on that corner throughout the winter. We wondered if any newly elected, (or selected, which is the case right now), president will actually call an immediate end to the war in Iraq. We all had our doubts that it would end quickly no matter who got elected. We thought that none of the people running for the office that said they would end the war were even being considered by the bought and paid for media. A sad commentary for our system of government and the capitalistic bent for which it seems to stand.

Peace to All

3 comments:

Coffee Messiah said...

There's not much hope when others point the finger and can't meet halfway - ; (

There were two links I wanted to give you, this one: check out 10-9:

http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/

I lost the other one, but showed three women who've been protesting every week since the so called war started (photo only showed the 3 btw) in the bay area.....and so it goes.

Yep, money talks, only just not to most of us! ; (

Sadly, it appears the war machine's just gonna keep rolling until????????????????

Blue said...

hmm...interesting confrontation with that young man. why does a peace sign agitate some people so much? tell barb to keep flying her freak flag high. nice work, good people of Ashland!

Fran said...

The only way I display an American Flag these days is upside down. It is the international symbol of *Distress* & for sure, our nation is in distress.
The flag I use most is a 3 x 5 turquiose peace sign flag. My favorite is an Earth photo from space, with the words *One Planet Indivisible*.
One large gathering we had locally, a group of black leather clad skinheads came with a large vinyl, professionally printed banner that read "These people hate America". Lots of people with rainbow peace flags stood right by them, kind of blocking their sign with peace flags. The police even stepped in, standing guard, thinking there would be trouble. I was thinking if they changed the sign to read *THESE PEOPLE HATE GEORGE BUSH'S AMERICA* it would have been accurate & true.

Don't know who those folks were, and have not seen them since. The peace folks continued on with their peace vigil without incident.