"Tell me what democracy looks like."
"This is what democracy looks like!"
Cadence. Call and response. Thousands of voices raised in chant, echoing the slightly hoarse lone voice of one woman, somewhere in the middle of the crowd.
"Tell me what democracy looks like."
"This is what democracy looks like!"
And it was. On Saturday, September 15th somewhere around one hundred thousand people gathered in Washington, D.C. and marched from the White House to the Capitol steps with one unified goal in mind: to stop the unjust war in Iraq.
Where did we come from? We drove up from Florida. We flew in from Oregon. We came from across town before our shift at the pizza joint on 13th Street. We noticed the gathering crowd while shopping and decided to join in.
Some of us inadvertently had breakfast together at The Corner Bakery.
Some of us rode in together on the Metro, taking the Red Line from Shady Grove and Bethesda, carrying our signs and our flags and talking in excited, hushed voices, brimming with anticipation. We came in rented buses and on bikes. We came on foot and on crutches or carrying canes. Some of us came before our first birthdays, riding in a pack on our mother's back. Some of us came with our walkers, joints creaking with age and voices raised in triumph.
Some of us came in the fatigues the military issued us. Some of us came with the clothes on our backs and ratty shoes on our feet.
Some of us came with our dogs, on stilts, dressed in pink, or bare-handed.
Some of us came with tears in our eyes. We held our fists high and stood proud against the war hawks who stood behind barricades and hid behind police, shouting out in anger and fear and hatred, practicing the flip-side of the same coin.
Some of us stood on the Capitol steps in riot gear, just doing our jobs. Some of us came to get arrested and did so with pride, standing tall in the mid-September sun with our hands bound behind us. Some of us lay on the grass or called home on our cell phones, reassuring worried loved ones that democracy is not always overtly dangerous.
Some of us worried. Some of us swore. Some of us walked in anger, some in quiet despair. Some of us walked to empower, others to be strong.
All of us came with voices, raised in chant or lowered in prayer.
All of us came as Americans.
"Show me what democracy looks like."
This is what democracy looks like.
I, for one, am proud to have been there.
DS Harnden
Let us all thank DS for sharing this moment in US history. Nicely done and I'm glad you were there. Hope for a better future is what we have. Time is now for each of us to step forward and be a part of change. May Peace shine through.
Enjoy your updates!
Elisa
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