As I was wandering around lower Manhattan, trying to squeeze blood out of a stone, I walked past a demonstration (or protest or circle jerk or whattever ya wanna call it). There were several hundred people protesting... well, they were protesting EVERYTHING! You had dozens of signs, against everything from Jesus being on the Internet to the economy to the Government to the IMF, etc, etc, etc. The only thing everyone had in common was that they all were able to have the time to spend the day pissing into the wind.
As I walked by with my uniform (briefcase and suit), I thought about how it would be wonderful to have the hope and free time to protest against (insert your cause here). Unfortunately, my mortgage and increasing bills do not allow for the luxury of having the time to advocate (insert your cause here). I'm not proud of that, but I made my choices many years ago and that's my fate. I'm pretty sure most of the people protesting have a lot more financially than I do, and I know that to them, I must represent the opposition.
Conversely, as much as I advocate free speech and protest, I know that it was futile what they were all doing. Nothing is going to change, and even the cops looked bored. Obama was the great hope, and guess what, it hasn't worked out so well.
A block away, the construction site where they are building the replacements for the World Trade Center was humming, with tourists gaping at the pit and the glass and steel towers being erected. As I watched for awhile, I felt nothing but sadness and pessimism.Build em up, knock em down, it's just a cash exchange when you get down to it.
I sort of felt like the people in this video must have felt (it's security camera footage of inside the Washington Monument when the earthquake hit last month.
On my way back uptown, there was a bum (or- for the politically correct, a homeless person) smoking a cigarette on the subway platform. For a second, I glared at him- after all, in Bloomberg's NYC, smoking is verboten. Then I thought how this was probably the only peace he's got, smoking a butt and not being hassled. I was ashamed of myself for being a douchebag.
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1 comment:
From out here on the W. Coast most of the wall street protestors looked very young. I doubt that they are all that much richer than you. They have fewer obligations. I'm glad they're there. Yes, they're a disorganized mess of half baked opinions but they're my disorganized mess of half baked opinions. I've been going to a lot of demonstrations out here and most of us have been old and white. Nice to see some young people getting indignant.
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