Fun with Protesting

With so much going on and all the processing that needs to happen for my overwhelmed little brain, it’s easy to let the weeks slip by without posting. I can’t guarantee I’ll post more frequently, but I am still here plugging away and trying to find some funny moments in all this crap.

Which brings me to this post which has been sitting my drafts for a number of weeks. On May 1, there were nationwide protests to mark International Labor Day and, you know, to remind Cheeto flea and the muskrat minions that they are illegally ignoring and attempting to dismantle the Constitution. Just another day in our fair country. I had to look up the origins of May 1, which seems like a good metaphor: it has origins in Europe as a celebration of the beginning of summer back in the pagan day and it also commemorates the struggle for the 8-hour work day movement in 1886 when workers held a nationwide strike in Chicago. The multiday strike turned violent on May 3, killing civilians and police. The International Socialist Conference in 1889 choose May 1 as a labor holiday, which became International Workers’ Day, which many countries celebrate. As you can imagine, here on the U.S. we got all touchy about socialism and communism, so we celebrate in September, but that’s a different post.

But that’s how this past May Day, I found myself in Great Barrington, MA, in the Berkshires, along with several hundred people in front of the City Hall. We were saying, “No!” to 8000 billion illegal and immoral acts the Cheeto flea is inflicting on us. I had planned the family trip months before, and was disappointed that I wouldn’t be in Boston for the protest. I went to the April 5 Boston protest with friends and the kid; the sea of people and signs was awesome in its size, power, and sense of purpose. It gave me energy and optimism to keep on fighting. Then I saw there was going to be a protest in Great Barrington. I had no idea what the protest would be like, and I didn’t have anyone to bring along or a sign. But I could show up and be present.

The Great Barrington protest was just as powerful as the Boston one in such a different way. I chatted and laughed through most of it. I joined a few hundred people, including 3 guys playing guitar and singing protest songs like it was 1969, and lots of enthusiastic sign waving and car honking. I took my place behind a retired couple, each holding a sign that together said, “Hands Off.” Very cute. At one point the man asked if I could hold his sign so he could take pictures of the other signs, and that is how I met Bob and Sue who were absolutely delightful.

We chatted easily going between usual questions of where we were from to discussing the current craziness. I noticed she asked really good, open-ended questions of genuine curiosity. Like when I mentioned I was pro union for many fields but thought the unions had taken a left turn. She genuinely wanted to know in what way, and we had an interesting conversation about unions and physicians. It could have been a strained conversation, but it wasn’t. Her easy ability reminded me to try to do better about remaining curious and asking good questions.

And she laughed at my jokes. At one point a lone Trumper appeared across the street. He was soon joined by two others. Sue and I talked about how we’re fighting for their rights too. I said, “I know, and I’m willing to do it, but it really burns my butt,” and she lost it, and then I lost it, and we were both laughing. We noted that most of the 18-wheel truckers honked in solidarity with us. The one who flipped us the finger, we just laughed at. A woman about 75 years old came up, and asked us if she could use a sign that someone else had planted in the ground. We said sure, and she grabbed that sign and ran across the busy intersection like a superhero to stand near the Trumpers and wave her sign at the cars. Sue and I looked at each other in surprise. “She is fearless!” I said, we started laughing again.

We talked about how we hoped more people would join in over time, but she also reminded me that most people are doing the best they can, contributing what they can. As the protest was winding down, Bob returned with lots of good sign pictures. We hugged goodbye, and I joked, “See you here next year,” and she shot back “We’ll be celebrating victory!” I hope so, but I am encouraged that most of us know we are playing the long game. Like a war, you don’t know long it will last or the outcome, but every day you exist, resist, support, or rest, and keep on going. And if you can find a Sue to laugh and be curious with, so much the better.

Singing like it’s 1969 at the Great Barrington, MA May Day protest.