Short One

Tonight was going to see Barack Obama. It was crazy. Parking garages full. We wound up parking several blocks away and hoofing it. We may have even parked illegally. We speedwalked back to the car in the dark, talking about what we had heard. We were relieved that we had not been issued a ticket or been towed.

The line was 2 1/2 blocks long, and we stood in line for about 45 minutes. Everyone around us was pleasant and interesting to talk to. A lot of different perspectives. An faculty member from Gannon University in front of us. A heavily tattooed couple behind us. Behind them a scholarly looking black man and his wife. 

For whatever reason, it made me think of the old Simon and Garfunkel song: 'they'd all come to look for America...' I suppose that was true in a way, all of us nostalgic for the days when we were not all considered evil and that we hated our country, and moreover, our president hates us.

I did have one mild heart attack. As we approached security, people began to fish out their driver's license. That had not even occurred to me. Mine was in my wallet in a locked car several blocks away. We waffled back and forth about whether I should run back to the car. 

Tim did have my veteran's ID. He uses it regularly at Lowe's for the discount. I walked up to a secret service guy who said it would be fine. Such a relief. 

A drone hovered in the air. SWAT watched from the roof. But the lines moved right along.

We were as far away from the stage as you could get, but it actually was nice. We were on comfortable high backed stools with a bar in front of us overlooking the crowd and the stage waaaaaaaay down there BUT we had a waitress come around. You could order your drinks and snacks, an amenity not available to the people in the bleacher seats. Quite a bit of service for the cheap seats.

When he took the stage, the crowd went nuts cheering. He talked for an hour and a half, about the importance of bipartisanship, about current politicians who are still upholding that core value in these times. He talked about these perilous times but reminded us that political violence is not new in our country, mentioning JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King. About women's marches, Vietnam protests and civil rights demonstrations that turned violent. 

We have been at inflection points before, and he made it clear we are at another, that people are polarized and angry.

We need to take care of others. We needed to celebrate each other and our cultures. That that is where our strength would come from, but there is no quick fix for this and these will be difficult days, not just for us but for the world. When people see other people as 'less than' it emboldens cruelty. He didn't say anything new, really, but he seemed to put it in a different context.

 It was nice to sit with 8000 other people and realize that there are others who think the same and feel the same and have the same vision for the country as we do. 

There was a heckler who interrupted twice shouting things I could not hear. She was mad as hell about something. The first tirade, Obama reminded her that he was not the president now and hadn't been for quite a few years. The second go around, the moderator spoke up to say, "Please! The people have come to hear a former president speak. After that, she stopped.

Sorry this is a pretty disjointed report. I am tired. I am so glad we went though.

Hop over to Northsider Dave's blog and leave a kind word if you would.. His beloved wife has died.