Well of course I was joyfully honking away, and went around the block unnecessarily so the kids could get a good look. I was rattling off a bunch of stuff about how in this country we can disagree with the government, and we can express our thoughts publicly, and it is a good thing when you see people protesting peacefully. As I was driving away trying to fit in all my lessonating, I realized I could just park, unload the groceries and walk back. Let them get a good look at it and have their first experiences holding up signs.
So that's what we did.
Here's Benny with his sign:
And Sadie with hers:
Just warms the little red cockles of my heart. Heh heh. Here's a video I took with my phone. It's a bit blurry but you can see that Sadie is using her protest sign to demonstrate that M is W upside down. See, it was educational!
There were actually a lot of children participating, and we ran into some friends of course. Here's Benny with Nicholas:
With people shouting from all four corners of the intersection and lots of honks from cars going by, it was intense for the kids, and for the dog. :) We left after probably 30 minutes, and I was glad we had a good experience. It's not the safest thing to do, protesting the war in this military town. I have to admit it was a little nerve-wracking. A very different feeling from when I was in college, that's for sure. However, I think it was a good experience for the children, and as long as it was within walking distance from my house, how could I pass it up?
Other pictures on the mobile blog and one other video on the YouTube channel, if you just haven't had enough political action for one day.
How exciting for your children to take part in a protest. I lost my taste for protesting when I was at university in South Africa. I was sjambokked and tear gassed. A sjambok is a particularly nasty South African item. It's a long, heavy leather whip and hurts like the devil. The Apartheid police in the 80's hated the kids at my university and were always on the look out for a way to arrest or hurt us.
ReplyDeleteI think now that I live in a free country, I should get back into going on protests. The kids will have a blast.
As a military wife of 20 years, I say, "Way to go!" Enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteOh. I knew there was something else I was supposed to do today. Darn scattered brain! I'm glad others were out there keeping up the protests. Thanks for taking the time to do that!
ReplyDeletePeace and Laughter,
Cristina
What a fantastic thing to teach the children. I applaud you. Our children see the Peaceful Ladies in Black that stand on the corner near the post office on Friday afternoons in a silent protest to the war. We've discussed it at length with the kids. And we are a military family.
ReplyDeleteThat's Great!!!
ReplyDelete