I took part in today’s “Hands Off” National Day of Action in the Seattle Center, and I have to say, it wasn’t until I got closer to the rally site that I realized how big of a thing it was going to be. A friend earlier that morning told me everyone on the bus she’d taken was heading in that direction, and trying to find another friend later that afternoon proved to be a little difficult, given the signal jamming with the sheer amount of people there. The bus we took getting back was standing room only. All I’m saying is that I’m glad I came. There’s something positive in the air.
Progressive politics ran the gamut down in Seattle Center today. There was a unionized teacher who said “we could be cops” for all he knew, a trans activist who “also hates rainbow capitalism” but wanted nothing to do with us, a boomer lady who enthusiastically bought our paper for five times the price out of solidarity, a gen-x dude who called us “dicks” for some reason I didn’t quite catch, all to the echoey sound of establishment figures on the mic somewhere in the distance. I later bumped into my old priest and his husband and kid on their way to Molly Moon, and they’d been at the rally too. All I’m saying is there’s a lot of work to do, and it’s worth being where the people are.
All I’m saying is that people can be surprising. It’s so much easier to keep within our comfort zones where everyone we know thinks exactly as we do. But it’s a lot more interesting to put our ideas to the test.