I slept in my own bed for four nights before I got the urge to skip town again. Lucky for me, the two funniest men in politics decided it was about time to rally the troops for a cause. Though I am usually hesitant to hop on a bus (motion sickness sucks), the 14 hour ride was worth it. I had help overcoming the usual stomach acrobats with healthy doses of generic Dramamine. We left Friday night at 6ish from Chicago, and woke up in the nation's capitol around 10 a.m. Becoming a part of the herd, Andrew (who spontaneously decided to join me with just the clothes on his back and his requisite backpack) and I walked to the mall. It was like a Rally dream. Code Pink was there, superheroes combed to field for trouble, and novice and seasoned rally goers carried the best signs I've ever seen or could imagine at any rally. Two of the best were "God Hates Crabs" and "Baconayse and McRib 2012." I wish I would have thought ahead and designed a clever sign. Next time I'll be prepared.
The last time I was on the national mall was a quiet summer day a couple years ago. But this time was anything but serene. Quiet is the last adjective anyone could use to describe the scene that day, unless you were being satirical, and with this crowd, it might have just worked. While I never got to see my nerd crush Stephen Colbert on stage, I was lifted above the thousands of people a couple of times to get a glimpse of him on the jumbotron. I have never been in a crowd that massive before. I couldn't see the end of it, even when I did get hover a couple feet over the masses. I'm sure by now you've read all about the rally itinerary, but I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite parts.
First, Roots. Then, before Colbert and Stewart even took stage, I knew I made the right decision to come to the rally when Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman used us as guinea pigs for seismic experiments. I really wish that show was shot in front of a live audience, but explosions probably don’t work all that well in a studio. During the main event, my favorite, besides the poignant speech Stewart made at the end, was the train song battle. And yes, Yusuf Islam, Ozzy Osbourne and the O'Jays were all live and in person performing their songs "Peace Train" "Crazy Train" and finally "Love Train." Who wouldn't want to get on the love train? I can’t think of a more appropriate and fitting compromise song. Then there were the medals. The best? Anderson Cooper's black T-Shirt winning Colberts Medal of Fear, and a 7-year-old girl (who has more courage than the award winners) accepting for the media outlets. Stewarts best? The award of reasonableness to Velma Hart. After all the cheering, laughing and satirical awesomeness, Stewart's speech wrapped up the rally. Here are a few excerpts I found on Wikipedia (which I know could have been altered by Colbert fans, like the elephant site, but I'm trusting it. I feel like this is in fact what I heard that Saturday and rings true for me):
This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are, and we do.
But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24-hour politico–pundit' perpetual panic "conflictinator" did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the "dangerous, unexpected flaming-ants epidemic!" If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.
There are terrorists, and racists, and Stalinists, and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned! You must have the résumé! Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult – not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more.
Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done – not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do. But they do it. Impossible things, every day, that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make.
We know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the Promised Land. Sometimes, it’s just New Jersey.
Unfortunately, even with this speech and rally, the election went wayward. All I hope is that people can work together for the greater good, and that politicians don't lose site of the golden rule. It's really the only one that matters, and sadly, I think it's one that politicians most overlook. In reality, here in my life, I'll just keep trying to be optimistic, cautiously, while supporting causes that I think are striving to make this world a better place.
No comments:
Post a Comment