"God bless you guys for doing that," said a 60 ish man from his SUV. "I'm really ticked off at Obama. He was supposed to end those wars but instead (he escalated one and continued the other). Your candle may always have to be lit. God bless you."
This was how last night's vigil went. Among a crush of cars, often bumper to bumper moving along Pacific Coast Highway, came horn honks, waves and two fingered peace signs. However, to put this in perspective, at most in any of these vigils, the visible response is about 5% of the drivers.
But we can never accurately measure the results of each vigil because many drivers and passengers turn their heads to read the sign and to notice the candle, and how it may influence them afterward is unknown. What we do know is that in the hour the vigil lasts, a thousand or more cars will drive by and in many cases, in some way the vigil will reach them.
Last night, John Fortier and I were joined by the 52 year old Englishman who sometimes joins and by a 42 year old woman with her five year old son who at times participates.
The Englishman, like the U.S. government, blames the Iranians for many of the troubles in Iraq and also claims their nuclear work is a threat to all of us. The woman stopped to join us on her way to a fund raiser she had organized on behalf of a woman with Stage 4 breast cancer. But in both cases, they took their time to be with us.
Later, as the vigil concluded, I was touched by something very simple that happened. John had the vigil sign under his arm making it unreadable from the street, when a driver in a burgundy red SUV slowed down and honked his horn and waved his support to us.
It was clear he was familiar with the sign's message and didn't need to see it to support us. This also happens occasionally from drivers going by on a cross street in which they can see the vigil but not the sign. It tells us the vigil is reaching peoples' consciences and some of them feel compelled to express it.
Dick
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