Peace Vigil 8/9/06
Peace Vigil 8/2/06
“”There isn’t anyone here who doesn’t support the troops,” says Ben Fain, one of the vigil organizers.
The weekly gatherings began a year ago this week to support the efforts of Cindy Sheehan, who set up camp outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Sheehan, the mother of a solider killed in Iraq, became the public face of Americans grieving over a loved one taken in war.
Since then, the Beaverton group has never missed a Wednesday, gathering at 6:30 p.m. through blistering heat, numbing cold and Oregon rain. ” Oregonian Article: A vigil for the dead . . . and for peace
The Vigilers also showed support for Lt. Watada and raised over $400 for his defense fund
My son. 
Ben, one of the wonderful Vigil Organizers
Most wore black to show mourning for a sad anniversary.
My family and our hockey buddy (his first vigil)
Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie & The Youngbloods
New friends. My husband, in VFP shirt, today was his birthday. He met another USN ET Vet. Both Veterans for Peace. One from Viet Nam, one from Gulf War… both standing for Peace.
Unbelievable!! 130 of you stood together as we marked 1 year of standing for peace. You are the greatest! And, we even successfully had 5 minutes of silence with the help of one of our participants.
Thanks also for your generosity! We collected over $400 for Lt. Watada. Because several people indicated they would like to donate next week, I will wait until then to send the check.
Never give up…we are gaining momentum!
In Peace,
Susi
DJ, the photos speak volumes. Thanks.
Thanks Boran2. It was loud last night 🙂
Many car honks and peace signs… however one guy drove by in a loud truck. Screamed at us and flipped the finger.
My husband flipped him right back… LOL (ok we’re not supposed to do that but it was damn funny) they just don’t expect people holding Peace signs to do that. I told my husband we shouldn’t give people the bird.. but he said, “that fucker flipped us off…”
Well… It’s his way, I guess 🙂
wonderful pics DJ!! I so wish we lived closer so we could participate together. San Diego doesn’t do alot of peace vigils or I am just having a tough time finding them. Thanks for never giving up!1 (((((love you))))))).
I wished we lived closer simply so I could be near you and ome over and make you fall into a case of the gigglefits 🙂
It was really nice seeing Wayne and our hockey pal (whose son is also autistic) at the vigil. They both popped their vigil cherries.
They flipped off a few cars.. ahem… 🙂 I guess… If you’re gonna flip off a couple of Vets…you’re gonna get the one finger salute.
This is from my hockey buddy and good friend’s email who attended. He’s the one with the sign “No War in Iran” – he said I could share this…
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My first vigil was a very satisfying experience. I had a lot of thoughts racing through my mind afterwards.
First of all was the response of people passing by. I was surprised at how overwhelmingly positive the reaction was. It seemed like close to half the cars driving by honked, waved or flashed the peace sign. Negative responses occurred also, but much less frequently than I expected. And that made me realize that one of the truely valuable and powerful affects of the vigil is to raise awareness. Because sometimes as I’m driving around town in my car I look at all the other cars and wonder about the people in them.
Are they Bush supporters? Do they oppose the war in Iraq? How do they feel about it? Are they just to busy to be bothered? Seeing the overwhelmingly positive response from across social, ethnic and economic spectrums made me realize that I’m not alone and that they probably felt the same sense of relief at seeing people publicly expressing the same thoughts, concerns and outrage that are burning inside themselves. I admit I got choked up about it a couple times. It made me realized there’s a vast amount of discontent beneath the surface of our society, but people are afraid to speak up and so many people think they are alone. And that’s how the vigil helps raise awareness. Standing on the street corner waving a sign is not going to end the war or bring about necessary changes, but it can be the catalyst for bringing people together and giving them the confidence and strength in their ideals in order to act on them and do the right thing.
One of the more interesting moments was the five minutes of silence. There was a marching band conference across the street in the park in front of the library. Just as we began the silence, the band launched into a medley of the Marine Corp Anthem, “Off We Go” (Air Force anthem), Battle Hymn of the Republic and other military anthems. What surprised me was that I didn’t find this at all incongruous with what we were doing. The songs still stirred the same pride in me that they did when I was young. I realized that it is not contradictory nor hypocritical to believe in a strong military defense but also support peace and diplomacy and oppose unnecessary and unwarrented military intervention. Let’s not succumb to the polemic argument that opposing the war is a sign of weakness.
Random images continue to float through my mind: police cars rolling by with police officers flashing peace signs at us, a group of three cars with middle eastern-looking women wearing Muslim style clothing waving and honking (I got the impression they didn’t think we were supporting terrorists). And the rage of a few passing by who disagreed. Rude gestures and verbal assualts. One shouted something that I only caught the end of, “Blah, blah, blah…kill them all!” That haunted me the rest of the evening. It only reinforced my perception that I was in the right place doing the right thing. We must raise these people’s awareness, too, no matter how unpleasant it may be for them.
And finally, the ones who stared straight forward and kept driving, some seemingly oblivious to what we were doing. We need to reach these people too, and convince them it really does matter.
Thank you for sharing your friend’s thoughts on his first vigil w/ us … Tell him that I appreciated reading about his experience.
And thanks to you and your family {{{DJ}}} … and now your friends.
Country Joe and the Fish rock the joint.
And you can’t fool me — that’s not really Woody and Phil up there, but they’re darn fine fascimiles. Makes me wish I was down there. I may not have my frailing stroke down cold yet (although I think I’m getting there), but I can bum-tiddy-bum-tiddy-bum with the best of them.
when I heard “Cause I ain’t marching anymore”… I INSTANTLY thought of you …. so in a BIG way, you were there 🙂
I’d love to hear you play.
I’ve thought about just recording myself with the mike attached to the computer, but it’s not the ideal setup (in fact it’s pretty substandard). Then again the kind of music I make was initially recorded by people in front of a single microphone, or sometimes a cone attached to styluses inscribing the wax on cylinders, so I guess it might be authentic.
When I have something ready for prime time I’ll share it.
but still it’s “no fair” that you’ve heard my voice… a few times LOL… and I haven’t heard yours. 🙂
Why am I imagining Pete Seeger’s voice in my head now?? 🙂
Please. I’m not worthy to shine Pete’s shoes. He’s done more for The Cause than I could hope to do in a dozen dozen lifetimes.
I don’t really know if I sound like anyone. If I had to categorize my voice, in general I’d say it’s sort of a comic-opera tenor. I do great in the “little man” parts in Gilbert and SUllivan.
In honor of you and Wes and the Washington County peace patrol, just now while I was finishing up dinner I came up with a couple of new verses to “I Ain’t A-Marchin’ Anymore.” Feel free to use them, pass them around, whatever. I don’t claim any special copyright. I think Phil would have approved.
Thank you my dear friend. I think it’s very important we support those who aren’t marching anymore.
And thus is the balance of the universe maintained.
And as for your comment . . . amen to that.