"Look, He's Out There All By Himself"

Look, he's out there all by himself," said Fay Ward, a passenger in my car, as she watched John Fortier conduct his peace vigil alongside busy Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, CA on Friday, 12/14/12. "And nobody cares."

She saw all that traffic and people driving by seemingly paying no attention to John as he sat in silence, his peace flag flapping in the breeze and his signs on display, "War Is Not The Answer" and "Veterans For Peace" (John is a Korean War veteran)

But I explained to Fay that looks can be deceiving. That occasionally some people will honk their horns in support and that others will be influenced by what they see, even if they don't acknowledge it.

This last Friday (12/21/12), I joined John for most of his peace vigil, and when I arrived, there was a gorgeous red poinsettia plant on display, next to John. He explained to me that only minutes before, an exquisitely dressed woman about 50 years of age, got out of her black Mercedes, blocking the right turn lane of the cross street.

She walked up to John, and without saying a word, she set the poinsettia next to him and gave him a big hug. She then walked back to her Mercedes and drove away. John was stunned and deeply moved by her gesture in support of his peace vigil.

A bit later, while I was there, a 40 something couple walked up and ignored John as they waited for the signal to change so they could cross the street. Soon another person walked up behind them and he too ignored the peace vigil as they all stood in front of it. At that point, I warmly greeted them and then briefly introduced John and his vigil to only moments before had been indifferent individuals.

For the remainder of the time I was there, there were repeated horn honks of support and on two occasions, shout outs of support. It is in American's silence that the U.S. keeps fighting meaningless wars in places such as Afghanistan, as U.S. soldiers, Afghan men, women and children, and other people are killed or maimed, and their families are left devastated.

For nearly 10 years, John has taken to the streets to do all that he can to end this needless carnage. As need be, he is willing to stand by himself to do it.

Dick