protests

i happened upon a protest today. well, that may make it seem a bit more nonchalant than it really was. i had a friend come in from out fo town last night and her and her boyfriend came all the way from out of town to be in new york for the protest. i have never really gone to a protest. that isnt true either - but not a big one. so they were talking about it and we were talking about all the issues going on with the country and bla bla bla but we were having a really good time and it seemed nice by the end of the night after having such a good time and having heard so much about the protest and having talked so much about the protest and having seen their committment to come all the way from another state (not new jersey) to this one in order to be at this protest that to go to the protest wouldnt be the most difficult or meaningless thing in the world to do. in the course of having talked about the protest and havig agreed with the various issues involved: yes, women should be able to have abortions if they want. yes, the war in iraq is wrong. yes, everyone should have healthcare. yes, the tailor law is an unfair law. yes, immigration is good. yes, a war against iran is not a good idea, etc. so then why not protest?

sure, protests have their downsides - to be grouped along with a bunch of people who you may not want to be grouped with - the fact that 60s style resistance may not be totally relevant in 2006, though it may, etc. but certainly doing nothing has no upside and despite all the complaining and pointing out of things that i tend to do, nothing is certainly what i do.

but in the end, i wasnt really even going to go. when i woke up i had some writing to do so i did it and anna as usual was dying to go to breakfast or brunch and to drink coffee outside. since i was doing work we decided that i would do work and then when i got hungry we would go out to brunch. it was past breakfast time. since it was past breakfast time and we hadnt eaten, anna was getting restless and then wanted to go walk around outside and said she was going to get coffee and offerred to get me coffee too. i accepted and kept writing and she came back before i knew it talking of how nice a day it was outside. "it's cold, but its sunny and it's like you can smell the water. it's one of those days in new york that makes you think you are somewhere else." implied was that a) it was not dank and disgusting and b) that she wanted to go out to eat. its understandable. we only get but so many nice days here in new york.

i didnt rush my writing like i would in a blog entry or anything like that, but i did finish soon and when i said, "lets go out" anna was already halfway out the door. that isnt true, but it works as an idiom in this case. the key was that i was feeling good about my writing and anna was feeling good about going to eat and we were both happy to be able to enjoy a nice day. people find motivation to action in different things and mine can as often be a good morning of writing as it can be being challeneged to a game of basketball. though rarely am i motivated to action by my political beliefs. and this was not different. the protest passsed by my house about two blocks away and we joined.

the world needs people to be motivated by their political beliefs. however, if peoples political beliefs are shaped by the politics of the time, then what good is it all? this is not to propose some kind of played out 90s style cynicism, but it is only to point out the fact that with all these protests and issues going on these days, about wars about immigration and all the things i mentioned above, and with all the other action i know is going on concerning poverty and imprisonment and unemployment specifically among the black population - why arent these issues combined? why arent these issues together at the same general protest? just a question. but i wouldnt have been able to ask it if i wasnt at the protest with teh rest of the good people i was there with today. being able to ask different questions is a product of having done different things. thats true.





...anna as usual was dying to go to breakfast or brunch or to drink coffee outside...