Why We Stand

After four plus years of doing virtually the same thing, with little result, one may ask oneself ”Why?’

You see, each Tuesday, for one hour during rush hour, I go, with but a handful of others, and I stand on a busy street corner in my town.  We stand to publicize our dissent of many things, primarily the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

This becomes an umbrella that opens into many other consequences of that action. It encompasses some of the current economic free fall we find America in, that being the almost one trillion dollars that the Iraq invasion/occupation has cost.

Our protest includes the need to prosecute those who initiated the lies and misinformation that caused this phony war, and those who ordered and conducted the use of torture. Need I go on? So many things to stand up and speak out against.

Mark Twain, as quoted by this writer in other of my columns, said it best. He stated that the primary purpose of government is “To protect us from the crooks and scoundrels.”

Well, so many scoundrels have inculcated our governments, whether they be in Washington or in our locales. Mix in the assorted crooks who feed these scoundrels and you have quite a pot of muck and mire. Perhaps the general public, which does not hear or see the true voices of dissent via the mainstream media, needs to see it alive and well in the heart of their own communities.

Thus, we stand…. Or rather…. I stand. Not for some ego boost, because it can be downright embarrassing to be standing on some street corner with a sign in hand. The looks that some of my neighbors shoot at me, whether in dismay or in disbelief, can sometimes be hurtful. Or at least they were when first I stood out there.

After four years one becomes numb to most of the negativity or apathy. Yet, to do nothing would be the greater sin one could commit in these troubling times. If we are truly ‘ Our brother’s keeper ‘ , maybe then one needs us to keep another informed…. Even with some sort of shock and awe ( no pun intended, Mr. Rumsfeld – may your indictment be forthcoming for the shock and awe you helped initiate ).

Many nights, after another afternoon of only seeing 3 or 4 of us on that corner, with no converts coming to join us, I begin to lose faith. I ask myself ‘Is this worth it’ to continue out there, week after week ? I asked my compatriots from the street corner why they have chosen to come down each week for years on end.

Walt D. , from New Smyrna Beach, at 80, the oldest of this group, gave his reason. “It’s the proper thing to do in a democratic society. When Dr. King was jailed for civil disobedience, he was asked why he went to jail. He responded to the questioner ‘ The real question should be why you are not with me? ‘ So, I stand. ”

I then asked Jim R. , also from New Smyrna Beach, a 70 something former teamster. Jim was blunt. “Somebody has to take the initiative, and do this. The truth is being buried and people have been propagandized by the mainstream media, who serve the interests of those who profit from war. ”

Finally, I asked Charlie B., 70 something, from Port Orange, my town. “I stand to be a witness to the idea of peaceful solutions. In addition to reaching the passers by with this message, I want the news to filter up and reach our political leaders as well.”

How many weeks turning into months, and then years, before my neighbors begin to get it that we are not out there representing them….. We are them and they are us? When will they realize, those who at least agree with us, that we are not some band of performers that are speaking for them?

No, on the contrary, honking a horn or waving in support of us is not productive anymore. If these three senior citizens, some with acute ailments, can find one hour per week to stand for things as important as saving our Constitution and our very Republic, well…… What about those who pass by in their cars?

This is not the time to simply trust our elected leaders. Rather, this is the time to tell our elected officials what we want! After all, if you look at their job descriptions , it states public servant. Websters defines servant : ‘ One employed to perform services.’

So, each time I have second thoughts about what I am doing on that street corner, for Justice, Truth and of course Peace, I remember others. I remember Sophie Scholl , in Nazi Germany, who also saw injustice and spoke out, under much more dire circumstances than me. It literally cost Sophie her head , but not her soul.

Many others throughout the history of our great nation have stood in public and went against the grain of power. It seems to me, that to not do such would be to negate the very essence of what Twain meant by the purpose of government. It would actually give more value to those crooks and scoundrels by ignoring their dirty deeds.

So, I continue to stand, not from pride or ego. Rather, in a much more mundane manner, to realize that the alternative to my speaking out is a terrible choice…… ‘Silence in the face of tyranny gives it license.’