I talked to my Granny on MLK day. She lives in the Bay Area, and she said there was a memorial march, but she couldn't make it. Granny is 81, and her poor old feet hurt her when it's cold out.
She was sad that her feet kept her at home, as those feet have traveled the globe, many times over. They marched against the war in Vietnam, and they marched for civil rights for all Americans since the 1960's, up until now, when they are just too tired.
Thank you, Granny.
She took me to the first protest I remember going to. It was a candlelight vigil, in remembrance of Hiroshima. I never hesitated to take up the torch, as my family and schools always taught that the greatest Americans were those that fought the good fight, like Benjamin Franklin, Rosa Parks, Sitting Bull...(well, my family was way hipper than the schools, but the sentiment was the same.)
Today, a tear comes to my eye when I drop off my daughter at Martin Luther King elementary. In the span of my Granny's lifetime, the Labor Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Peace Movement, and good ol' Queer Liberation have shaped the paths of humans on this planet with a swiftness unparalleled in history. All you Eco-hippies take heart! Environmentalism, Animal Rights, saving Indigenous Cultures, it is so very within our grasp.
Thank you, Granny.