What an amazing, inspiring and motivating day I had yesterday. I went to Crawford yesterday to support Cindy Sheehan in her efforts to get President Bush to talk with her about the senseless war in Iraq. She of course was not there due to her mother being ill, close to 1,000 of her supporters were "holding down the fort" till she returned from California. Crawford is in the middle of no where, about 20 miles from Waco. When we arrived there was a small motorcycle rally/Bush supporter rally in the Town Square. We later learned that most of the bikers were not Pro-Bush, they were just biking through and stopped to see what the other bikers were doing. The bikers then biked by the Peace House (located in Crawford since 2002) and honked and waved in support. The day was so amazing because it really showed the power of one person. One person decided to take a stand, stand up for herself and the rights of other military families to know the truth. She set out just to get her question answered by President Bush, and in doing that started a new movement. She was joined by dozens of other military families who just packed up their things and came down to Crawford. Mothers who lost sons, Fathers who lost sons, sisters who lost brothers, wives who lost husbands, and many other families whose relatives are still over there. She was joined by former military personnel who served in Iraq, but came back and were vehemently opposed to the war and are refusing to return.
The people I met were amazing. It was truly intergenerational. It was not just a young crowd, in fact, most people were over 40. I saw a few women who were as old as 80. I also met a six week old baby on his first week long vacation from Upstate NY. People from all over the world donated items to the cause. There was an amazing Circus like tent donated from New Zeland to go on the land of the kind and very brave gentleman who is Bush's neighbor and donated his land to Cindy and her supporters. There was amazing amounts of food donated, really good food. Everyone shared, everyone cared. It was incredible. I remembered that there is such good in this world. So many people do love, care and believe that we can live in a world without war.
The highlight of the night was being able to hear the Gold Star Families for Peace speak about their children and their thoughts on the war. It was amazing being able to hear their very personal stories and share in their grief and their passion to end this war and bring the troops home. Their speeches were followed by Steve Earl, his final song being "The Revolution Starts Now" and the crowd of course sang along, with hopes that George heard this from his ranch only yards down the road.
Peace,
Brooke
