This morning in Brinnainne’s diary, I said I was going to do something positive today instead of praying or cursing this administration…so I headed down to the Cindy Sheehan rally at Independence Mall.
What a great decision that turned out to be! After weeks of sadness and horror at what lies, greed, and failed leadership have done to our country, I finally found new hope. Other Americans standing up for what is right, and saying no to what is wrong. Live and in the flesh! How refreshing!
Here’s the crowd when we first arrived:
Celeste Zappala (on right), GSFP mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker (who has the sad distinction of being the first PA National Guardsman killed in combat since 1945), standing with Philadelphia City Councilwoman Reynolds Brown as she read the resolution passed by City Council on September 15th calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq:
Boots and pictures of the fallen. My older son said they almost made him cry. Me too:
The crowd grew as the evening went on (and look, there’s Independence Hall in the background!):
People with banners on Market Street:
Hart Viges of Iraq Veterans Against the War talking to a local mediaperson:
This little girl was making a pathway of peace signs that her younger sister would run down like stepping stones:
When Dante Zappala was speaking, he even mentioned seeing this woman’s sign, which said: “I Don’t Want to be a Gold Star Grandma” (she was delighted, of course):
Even more people! One of the speakers said that this was the largest group they’d had so far, and each of the people I spoke to from the tour said that having all of us show up to support them means so much to them.
Local musician and artist LisaBeth Webber played a few songs for us:
The woman on the right is Beatriz Saldivar, GSFP member whose nephew Daniel Torres was killed in Iraq while driving an under-armored HumVee:
And of course, Cindy herself (sorry, this was the best of my pictures of her):
After Cindy spoke, someone (I can’t remember his name, maybe Tracy knows?) played Taps on the bugle and we all lit candles. There were so many more people there than they expected, they ran out of cups and candles; luckily the Cabin Boys got two of the last ones!
And my favorite t-shirt of the evening:
Hearing these people speak about their loved ones and their experiences is very moving. The way the GSFP families describe hearing that doorbell ring on that awful day, or how the MFSO wives grew to hate the sound of their own doorbell or phone ringing, for fear that it would be their turn to hear the bad news…There were too many of these stories. We have to put an end to this war now so that no more families have to live through this.
In spite of the sadness of their stories, it was good to be around other people who care about our soldiers and our country, and who are working to bring an end to Bush’s lies and mistakes. I also kept overhearing how many people will be in DC next week. I’m looking forward to being right there with them!
