"What does your sign say," asked a 50 ish woman, as she walked with her little black rescue dog to the sign. "That's really cool," she remarked after reading it. "My dad was in the Korean War and World War ll," she added in answer to John Fortier, a Korean War veteran. "In the Navy."
A short time later, a 25 ish woman walked by the vigil, and as I smiled and said, "Good Evening," she turned her head away and kept walking. Five yards beyond the vigil, she waited for the light to change so she could cross the street. I walked over to her, smiled and added, "I only meant to give you a nice greeting." In reply, she clenched her teeth, as her eyes narrowed in anger and she again turned her head away.
My smile never left, and as she walked off into the distance, I commented to John this is part of greeting the public. We will never bat a perfect 1,000 but we still hit .800 or .900, a very high batting average.
"Bleeeep" blasted the horn as a bus pulled alongside the vigil to stop for a red light. It's doors burst open and the 35ish female driver beamed a smile as bright as the noon day sun, as her brown eyes sparkled and she said, "I'm blessing you," to us. After a brief conversation, the light turned green and she added, "I love you," as her doors closed and she blasted her horn again as she pulled away. This was very touching.
Meanwhile, in various Iraq cities the last 11 days, over a 150 people have been killed and hundreds more seriously injured mostly from car bombs. In Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no end to the violence.
But thousands of mile away, our vigil was peaceful. "That's nice that you are able to do that," said a 50 ish woman as she walked up and read the sign.
Shortly afterward, a couple walked up, read the sign and joined us for the last several minutes of the vigil. "What are they thinking still fighting these wars, the 40 ish woman said. "We can't afford to fight them. We're going broke! They (politicians) don't get it.
"We're from the Placerville area (near Sacramento, California's capitol, about 400-miles north of the vigil). We came down here for work. He was out of work for seven months. And he has his degree in civil engineering."
"I've been in construction for 26-years," said the 50 ish man. "And until now I've never been out of work. But all around us homes are for sale or being foreclosed." "We're renting down here," she added. "We've been here for about 30-days and we intend to go back. We still have our house up there."
John handed her a pin with the peace symbol and she proudly put it on the upper right side of her blouse. "People care very much about these wars," she said with an ache in her voice. "And they care about the Economy."
Although they didn't know it, nor at first did we, our vigil ran overtime to accommodate this bright, articulate couple who spoke so passionately about their situation and their awareness that many others have it worse. It is my hope that America's political leadership will finally address America's deep and worsening financial problems, and start by ending these wars. In the meantime, the vigils are held and the candle burns brightly as a beacon to all.
Dick
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