The 1st observation was when three 15 ish girls walked by the vigil as if it didn't exist. With a smile, I walked over to them and greeted them warmly and then asked, "Are you ladies familiar with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?" One hesitantly said, "yes," and the other two replied "no," with one of those teenagers adding that she knew nothing about the wars and judging by her facial expression and her shrug, I'm not sure she was aware wars are even taking place.
I told them them that many of the young soldiers dying in those wars are just a little older than they are and politely attempted to engage them in conversation, but they had no interest. Had I switched the topic to Lady Gaga or "Dancing With The Stars," it would likely have captured their interest. To know virtually nothing about these wars is appalling, especially since if they had the slightest interest they could Google them on their smart phones and in a heartbeat have vast amounts of information at their fingertips.
The 2nd observation came when a 12 ish boy riding in a truck read John's peace sign and saw his peace symbol flag and lowered his window and waved vigorously at us. A short time later, a 13 ish boy in a car saw the same thing and he too waved heartily and also called out to us to express his support and a hope for the wars' end.
On a night in which John's vigil attracted plenty of horn honks and waves, these two observations stand out. I recall when I was young (I'm 66 years old now), millions of young people opposed the Vietnam War, many of them fearful of being drafted or having a family member drafted into the U.S. military and being sent to Vietnam. But whatever their motivation, they took to the streets and forced Congress to stop funding the War and effectively brought it to an end.
Today, we have silence and those three teenage girls were a fine illustration as to why. But in fairness most Americans are silent about the current wars, allowing them to devastate millions of families in their silence. But that John has held so many peace vigils appealing to the consciences of others and seeing the responses from those two boys lifted my heart.
Any nation in which its people, including its religious and political leaders, can ignore the immense suffering of others doesn't have much of a future. But the horn honks and waves of support, from however small the % of drivers they come from helps offer hope that Americans may finally wake up to the horrors their government has brought on others, including its own soldiers and their families, and do something to stop it.
Dear Reader, John requested I add the following to this vigil summary:
To suggest the range of the vigil's effect you could add: Near the end of the vigil John yelled and waved vigorously to a car coming down Knob Hill and making a left on PCH. He told me that the driver was a lady named Kelly, and he had met her in a local hardware store a few days earlier. The lady approached him and asked if he was the guy who sat on the corner with a sign, "War Is Not The Answer". He said that he was that guy and appologized for not recognizing her. She said that that was OK because every time she honked and waved, he always smiled and waved back. He said he's going to be on high alert look-out for her from now on. This wasn't the first time that someone has recognized him in some public place and approached him about it, and it is encouraging when it happens.
Dick
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