Protest and Church

Protest and Church

Started with an old friend in Seattle, although a portion of this skips back about a decade.

Austin, in front of the state capital, at the height of the Bush Administration, or the Bush Hegemony, as it was called in Austin, at the time. Used to be a series of protests in front of the Capital, the pink dome.

One guy caught my eye, as I was working afternoons in East Austin, part-time student slum-lord. As I’d walk and ride the bus, this guy was there, every evening, was the fall of 2003, coat and tie, American flag, standing at attention, protesting. Silently standing there, no bullhorn, no angry young man diatribe, just exercising his freedom to protest in a rarified, refined manner.

I’m of the mind that America is a great place, we have religious freedom, and our right to protest is ingrained in our spirit. It’s part of our combined cultural milieux.

Affirmation and protest, part of our inalienable rights. I’d take it one step further and suggest that it’s ever human’s right to protest. I prefer my protest and other, similar acts to be staid, conservative.

Still, this is how it begins, not how it ends.

The comment from my buddy under the Seattle sky, maybe a half-dozen years back? “I wish those stinking hippies would get a job.”

I’m thinking it was an offshoot of “Occupy Wall Street,” but I can’t recall exactly. I wasn’t mortified at the comment — just the opposite — I didn’t know what they were protesting, but it is always incumbent upon our youth to protest. Fight the man, down with the powers that be!

Right on, brother!

Or, these days, Sister. Whatever.

It’s — look at the history — our birthright.

I didn’t know what they were protesting, or if they were successful with affecting outcome. More than one Austin protest, and at least one or two in San Antonio, the act of protest seemed more important than the issue.

I didn’t say that was always the case, but strident, frequently silent protest is important.

Pretty sure it’s an American Birthright.

Unrelated:

And one wonders, “Why?”

Seasonal Opera, of course.