Why Seniors showed on April 5.

It was not just about Social Security and Medicare

There it was. Saturday morning. A beautiful day.

We donned what we thought was inconspicuous garb, dressed the dog in her rainbow sweater, and trekked the 12 miles or so back to the courthouse where Dad served as the town judge. Parking a block from my first home, we walked three blocks and stopped across from the courthouse in front of the funeral home where my parents had been prepared for rest. Our plan was to stick to the edge of the rally where we could leave quickly if needed.

One of the first people we ran into was the news director of a local TV station. Well, okay. We were out. When he asked, we said “sure, we’ll talk” - and ended up in the lead story on the Monday news.

Carol talked about all the policy reasons to be there. I spoke about how this is the first Protest FOR Law Enforcement, and how it would grow.

LINK to Story Here.

We remember an auditorium full of seething people back when the government expanded Redwood National Park, and then when some fool thought we needed our own LNG terminal. The park got bigger. LNG stayed away. We have an active community behind the “Redwood Curtain”. This was the largest protest in recent memory.

All of us have seen video of violent protests. We have heard the shouts of recrimination and payback coming from the White House. Despite all that, we showed up. There was only one minor altercation, and it was defused.

It has been widely noticed how many gray heads attended this protest. Do not assume we are there for Medicare and Social Security. Every one of us has specific problems being caused by Trump and his MAGA cult. We were there for someone else.

My granddaughter called yesterday from Michigan, unaware we had attended the rally. Her call was to compare her college experience to mine fifty years ago. Other than technology (what? paper notes?), we concluded it is about the same. They even drink watery beer.

Later in the day Carol and I realized our interview made the news, so I texted a screenshot to the grand-child and she wrote back one word:

Awesome!!

Kids are scared. They have been taught from childhood to duck and cover. Older people know they are older and have little to lose. We are there for younger people. I hope it all works.

I know they will remember we tried.

See you April 19.