brushfire"This, yes, this, it was always like this." -Stanley Koehler
REFLECTIONS OF AN EMPTY NESTER
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I’ve read and heard a lot of cranky things since the women’s marches Saturday, but one stood out. “Those women don’t represent me,” wrote one woman on Facebook.
Since returning from Washington, D.C., where several family members and I were among an estimated 500,000 people assembling for what may have been the most peaceful protest in history, I’ve thought a lot about that comment. And I realized the millions of people who participated nation and worldwide didn’t represent me, either. Like many of the women, men and children present, I wasn’t marching for myself. Neither were my husband, brother or 22-year-old daughter. We marched because we believe what Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I’m white, college educated, employed, married and straight. My parents and grandparents, also college educated, were born in this country. My husband and I have had the privilege of raising our three children in a community with access to excellent public schools, recreational programs, parks, swimming pools and even a lake. We go to sleep each night knowing public safety officers are a phone call away. Our healthcare needs have been provided thanks to employer-subsidized health insurance and our children may share those benefits until they’re 26 if they so choose. Our children received federal aid for college and my parents enjoyed their retirement years with the help of social security and Medicare. I marched because I think every American deserves these same rights and privileges. Every person had personal reasons to be there, whether they were standing up for their own rights or somebody else’s. The marches were open to everyone and people came from all over the country to participate. No one cared what race or religion you were, whether you were rich or poor, male, female or transgender, born in the U.S. or a recent immigrant or whether you walked on two legs or traveled in a wheelchair. If each of us was a snowflake, no two alike, collectively we blanketed the streets for miles. I can only speak to my own experience, not what people viewed on TV or social media. What I experienced was being crushed shoulder to shoulder in a crowd so vast I had no sense where it began or where it ended. With no cell service, getting separated from members of your party was not an option. Sitting down was not an option. Getting food or water was not an option. Finding a port-a-potty was not an option. Maybe people heard about entertainers shouting obscenities or saying rude things about our new president. What I heard was people saying, “Excuse me,” as they jostled their way through the crowd or inadvertently stepped on a toe. What I heard from the stage were messages of love, hope, healing, togetherness and the power of people to make a difference. Signs with clever sayings made me laugh, but what cheered me most were signs of optimism, solidarity, patriotism and momentum. The mood of the day was spirited and enthusiastic, but it was also peaceful. I wasn’t a bit surprised to read the next day the D.C. march didn’t yield a single arrest. People of different colors, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds and ages spoke about a range of issues. I enjoyed hearing Alicia Keys recite lines from Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” followed by a performance of “Girl on Fire.” I was inspired by Kamala Harris, the newly elected junior senator from California. CNN correspondent Van Jones talked about his Love Army. But my favorite speaker was Sophie Cruz, the 6-year-old who became an overnight sensation in 2015 after she crossed security lines to hand a letter to the Pope expressing her concern her undocumented parents would be taken from her. “We are here together making a chain of love to protect our families,” she said. “Let us fight with love, faith and courage so that our families will not be destroyed.” She repeated her remarks in Spanish, ending with a rousing chant of “Si se puede! Si se puede! (Yes we can)” with the crowd joining in. Did Sophie Cruz represent me? She didn’t need to. I, along with millions who marched in person or in spirit, represented her. This appeared in the Jan. 26 issue of the Grosse Pointe News.
2 Comments
Ray Koehler
2/20/2017 06:10:08 am
I did not march but did read a lot of news reports on it. I found this the most refreshing of all the reports I read, and perhaps the most straightforward.
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Susan Burke
3/3/2017 02:20:21 pm
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Mary Anne BrushJournalist, fiction writer, wife and mother |