Well, I did it. I took my humble little sign outside and I sat down and proudly displayed it for all to see. I changed my initial design and affixed it to a golf club so that all six words faced in one direction: "Support The Troops, Impeach Commander Guy". I liked having the golf club as some small measure of back-up...just in case some ignorant idiot decided to get stupid.
Fortunately it never came close to that sort of needlessly-violent scene and the whole experience was actually rather pleasant and encouraging, at least on a very small scale.
If you want to venture below the fold with me I'll give you a brief account of the days activities and the response I received. It's kinda cool in a small-rural-town sorta way.
I had spent the previous evening black-electric-taping and sharpie-ing the sign until it met with my approval, and my three-year daughter's as well. I stuck a little American flag sticker to the bottom corner and set out on my humble little mission.
First things first, of course. I brought two loads of laundry out of the house and soap and towels in a tupperware bowl to wash our car, a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe.
I stuck the sign in the ground, propped up against a small little tree recently planted by landscapers at our little duplex. I then got to work starting the laundry (washer and dryer hook-ups in the garage) and washing the car.
Well...so far, so good. A couple of cars passed by and I caught a couple of the occupants in the vehicles reading the sign but, alas no response. It was, after all, Memorial Day and my town of 20-or-so thousand was extremely quiet.
So, when I was done with the car and onto the second load of laundry I decided to
pull a lazy boy chair out of my garage that is sitting next to my drum-set
and sit down with a good book. Not
"The Rum Diary" by Hunter S. Thompson
but the classic "1984" by George Orwille that I am reading for the third time.
Of course, I also had to start in on the bottle of whiskey that I had saved for this occasion. It was around 3 in the afternoon and I paced myself...hey, I'm not stupid.
I read a few pages (about 30) and then decided to turn my boombox in the garage up to full volume and sit down behind my drums for a little neighborhood enhancement. (It's a practice-pad set and nobody has called the cops in over two years now since I started using it instead of my real set which I'm still in the process of restoring)
By that time, by the way, I had decided to hang the sign from the open garage door for maximum exposure. The spot by the tree was shady and kind of obscured and I wanted to make sure that as many people as possible could view it.
My next-door neighbor came out soon thereafter and looked at the sign as he walked across the street to meet up with a few others to play softball at the park down the street. I simply said: "Just making my Memorial Day statement" and he responded "Cool". One down, how many more to go I have no idea.
About a dozen more cars drove by (like I said, quiet town) and by 5pm I realized Keith Olbermann wasn't going to be on (Duh, Roger) and decided to take my daughter for a walk in her stroller...with the sign attached for all to see.
As we set off down the street towards the park and my usual 20-30 minute "walking route" we immediately ran into the family across the street. Well, actually...mom, her mom(grandma) and their three children, ages 4, 7 & 10 (approx.) While grandma kind of pulled away and wanted nothing to do with it mom had her son read the sign to the rest of his siblings. "Sound it out" is what she said. I'll never forget that. My heart burst with pride.
Then we got to the park and there was around 25 people gathered there playing a thrown-together softball game. A few acknowledged me...they all read my sign. Then, out of the blue a guy I used to manage called me over: "Hey Roger WTF are you doing?" I walked over and he and all of his gangbanger-wanna-be buddies read the sign. They all kind of gave a nervous laugh and he asked me: "What are you doing, protesting alone?" I said; "Yeah, as a matter of fact that's exactly what I'm doing." They all gave me sort of a collective "Right On" and I walked on.
I ended up walking for about 40 minutes through our two-block downtown area and every car that passed by turned their heads to read the sign...no bad responses, no good responses. Just getting the word out, pushing the Overton Window in my own little way...that's all I wanted to do.
I returned home refreshed, invigorated and happy that I have taken the first step in a long road of activism that I plan to continue until the day I pass from this earth.
Speaking the truth has never been a problem for me and now, thanks in large part to you guys (& gals) I now have a real truth to spread.
I'm just doing my little part to help. My goal is that someday, somehow I will be able to support my family by helping others and by spreading this truth to whoever will listen and if they won't I'll still keep spreading it. Call it one man's crusade to reveal the truth, however ugly it may be.
I sincerely thank you for listening and I can now rest easy...knowing that somewhere, somebody might become a little more involved because I am now serving my purpose on this spinning blue rock that we call earth. I have no choice...it's who I am.
As Always...Peace ;-)>