John Fortier Peace Vigil, 11/8/13

Dear Reader, John Fortier is a Korean War veteran, retired school teacher and a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He has conducted weekly peace vigils since March, 2003 just before President Bush directed the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, a nearly nine year disastrous war for everyone involved.

Knowing the horrors of war firsthand John has also vehemently opposed the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the other wars of choice the U.S. is now fighting. The following are John's comments, mostly about his peace vigil last Friday:

Dear Reader, John started his summary by describing a man he met in a Mexican restaurant who recognized him from seeing him conduct his peace vigils at the very busy corner of Pacific Coast Highway [PCH] and Knob Hill in Redondo Beach, California.

 

John wrote: "Actually, I'm not too sure about his citizenship - he was a heavily accented fellow in a Mexican restaurant - but he was powerfully supportive of my mission on the corner.

 

"He was very old-country hesitant about approaching me on the Peace sign issue. After some 'ums' and 'uhs', he remarked on the little embroidered sign and Veterans For Peace pin on my shirt and the metal Peace sign necklace. Then he cautiously ventured the question that might I be the guy who sits on the corner.

 

"When I said yes and pulled the necklace aside to show the tattoo [of a peace sign], he was quite affected and said some very nice things; it was a thoughtful little moment. 

 

"When I paid the bill, I stamped it with my dime-sized Peace sign and left a Peace pin [John uses various color poker chips to create pin able peace signs] in the bill holder.  I'm sure the pin has found a receptive home.

 

"By the way, last night on the corner, a lady came by with two little kids, and I think you may have met her. She's from Boston and comes here to visit either her son and his wife or her daughter and her husband. She has stopped and visited  three or four times now, a very nice grandmother of the well behaved little kids. 

 

"And Toni, of the Hawthorne OCCUPY Torrance group, stood with me for an hour. She brought, "WAR IS A RACKET" and "GUERRA ES UNA ESTAFA" [WAR IS A FRAUD"], signs that she had made herself, and very nicely done. Ironically, while she was there and I was displaying the 'Estafa' sign, two trucks passed with Hispanic guys giving enthusiastic gesture and vocal support. 

 

"Another nice little thing happened. A lady rode across PCH in the pedestrian walk zone and turned south at 'my' corner. As I was watching her, she made a 'beep, beep, beep' sound, and said she was blowing her horn for my signs. I applauded her. And, oddly enough, she is the second person to do that. Pretty neat.

 

"Also, two high school seniors walked up Knob Hill, smiled and said hi, waiting to cross PCH, so I started a conversation with them. It turns out that he has not been exposed to much in high school about the severe economic, political and military dangers our country is facing.

 

"He seemed a bright kid and interested in what I had to say, but the topics just weren't being addressed. He intends to be a biologist and wants to involve himself in rescuing threatened species. The young lady with him admitted to being undecided so far. Nice kids. Alert, curious and sharp, they were able to benefit from exposure to major concerns, but these issues apparently had never been presented to them in school nor shown in newspapers. 

 

"What a travesty. How can they be expected to become responsible citizens unless they  are aware of the real world and its problems. They had 'heard about' Viet Nam in a history class, but were appalled to hear from me about some of the other wars this country has been involved in if not responsible for.

 

"I think the 'news' should be removed from 'newspaper', just as 'service' has disappeared from 'service station'."

[Dear Reader, I believe John is reflecting his frustration with the U.S. news media many of which remarkably have given the U.S.'s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere very little coverage.]