Everyone Loves a Parade

Saturday, friend Kathy texted me and asked if I were going. Nah, I said. I had no signs, no shirt, and will it really do any good to participate?

But away we went. Mill Street Park. For both of us, it was our first protest. 

Whether you admire the current administration, voted for it, despise it, fear it or are noncommittal, being among the crowd of protestors is far different from seeing it on TV. That’s one thing I learned: you gotta be there.

Engulfing the park, the roads surrounding it, and the whole east end of the Plaza - all packed, we picked our way through the crowds.  Polite people, young people, old people, people of all colors, nice people who offered us water (stay hydrated, it’s hot out here), a free t-shirt, a few dogs who also sought to share the shade, all kinds of people with one, or several, messages.

Officially and nationally, this was No Kings Day and there were lots of shirts and signs proclaiming that.  It seemed amazing to me that this idea was big enough to be a real thing.  

It summarizes not just a worry, but a huge concern, among many.  The protest was also spontaneous as there seemed to be no on-site group organizing it. There were no speeches and barely a parade through the Plaza streets later in the afternoon. The signs were hand-made and varied. Group chants, blaring car horns, and an occasional bull horn added to the cacophony. You can get a small sense of it by >ing through the pics below.

I watched a bit of the other parade on TV, the one in Washington D.C. and I fully agree that our military should be honored. The date set for the parade was valid though the initial focus seemed to be towards the President celebrating his birthday by throwing himself a parade party.  The U.S. Army was established on June 14, 1775, by the Second Continental Congress. The last full-on U.S. power display like this occurred in 1991, The National Victory Celebration, after the Gulf War.  Then, 8,000 Desert Storm troops marched in the national parade, the largest American military parade since WWII, costing about $12 million.  

This weekend’s parade, officially titled The 250th Birthday of the U.S. Army Grand Military Parade and Celebration, whew, saw 6,600 soldiers plus tanks and helicopters. Estimated cost is somewhere between $25 to 45 million.  I cite all of this because although such a display is not without precedent,  given all the recent conversations about saving money, I wonder if this were a necessary expense needed now.  But that’s me.

I don’t want to be proselytizing too much here because that’s not the goal of this blog.  So back to the experience of it all – I think everyone should feel strongly about things that matter to them, and then do something.  Too many of us, including me, just sit back and complain. 

Among others, protesting is one way to make your voice heard.  I’m not going to shrug off my shawl and go tilt at windmills everywhere.  However thinking back to Vietnam, I remember that, eventually, protesting DID make a difference.

Peace, baby.

P.S. And speaking of peace, here is an update on our doves:

And a great video: