No kings

I am not entirely opposed to kings. A number of countries operate as such, and I don't know that it makes them good or bad. I am, however, opposed to the trump administration and all things currently republican in the supposed USA. THAT is why I participated in our local "No Kings" protest this past Saturday.

The weather was not great - overcast, rainy skies - but it actually may have made it that much more of a spectacle in that SO MANY PEOPLE still came out!!! 

Fort Wayne's event was from 2-4 PM on Saturday, June 14. We headed downtown right around 2 and noticed right away an increase in traffic. We decided to park at the library several blocks away and several other carloads of people had the same idea at the same time. 

Immediately you could hear the noise. I couldn't tell what it was at first, but as we got closer it turned out to be cars honking, people screaming, singing, cheering and just the sheer number of human voices gathered in one place! It was crazy!! ... It was beautiful.

Yes, I got teary-eyed several times.

I heard a rumor that Fort Wayne's crowd covered 10 blocks of downtown, not to mention the congestion of cars driving around blaring their horns. Someone estimated maybe 10,000 people but I have seen no confirmation of that. I'd be happy with half that. I've also never heard a definitive national number: somewhere between 5 million and 13 million. That's a lot of people.

I honestly don't know what the point, or intended outcome, of the event is/was, but it was hard not to feel a level of enthusiasm in the air like I've not experienced in some time. Maybe it was just finding out we are not alone in how we feel. Sometimes that's all it takes. Sometimes that's what it takes for something more to happen too! 

As a friend of mine said:
"Most days I think, "How can people be okay with this" (the onslaught of lies, evil, propaganda day after day after day)? Today I realized that they aren't. Sure, some people are, but it was shocking just how many folks were carving out space to make their voices heard. Even if those words fall on the deaf ears of billionaire grifters, it turns out we needed a moment to hear each other..."

We saw a number of people we knew and faces we recognized; there were a lot of younger people, but it was mostly old folks - even older than us; we did not see a single police officer anywhere (though I'm sure they were lurking about); it was mostly like a great big party with a lot of laughing, smiling, singing, and even some dancing. :) 

What I simply don't understand are the people I've heard since then who complained that it was somehow anti-military or anti-American. Like... what?!? That's one of the things that yanks my chain the most: this idea that anyone who doesn't support trump, or isn't a republican, is somehow anti-American. Since when has that been a thing? Well, I think since trump's first run it has for sure. And I don't think he's smart enough to come up with any of this stuff on his own. He's a puppet, and the puppeteer purposely hides away. Oof... Anyway...

Yeah... for a couple of hours it felt pretty good. I felt a little bit of hope. I don't expect the current anti-Christ administration to change anything because of it, but it was nice that it changed my mindset for awhile, and maybe over time it can change some other people's too. We will see.