A Great Movement

'Well behaved women seldom make history.'  -Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

We all know the slogan the president ran his campaign on.  He wants to make America great.  He used this slogan to motivate his supporters and those voters who might have been on the fence on election day.  He rode that slogan all the way to Washington, D.C.  The one thing I don't think he counted on was the populous using their freedom to assemble and showing that this country already is great.  I don't think he realized that those who do not support him can show great movement when motivated to make their voices heard.  

What we have witnessed within the first two weeks of his presidency is what makes America great.  The Women's March throughout the country and the world was a wonderful thing to see.  As a white, straight, man I have it pretty easy.  I don't have much to worry about because it is people that look like me that founded this country and basically run this place into the ground on a day to day basis.  What I was talking to a co-worker about regarding the Women's March is not the fact that these marches were taking place in large cities which is what you would expect, but it was also taking place in small towns.  Not on a large scale, obviously, but it was still happening.  There were a few small towns in Minnesota that had anywhere from fifty to two hundred people march in solidarity.  That is what is great.  From large state and national capitals down to a small research boat in Antarctica we witnessed an organized movement that gave hope to the future.  You saw mothers bringing their sons and daughters out to march.  Grandmothers and granddaughters.  Husbands and fathers marching in solidarity.  These types of actions are important not only for the present, but for the future.  Future generations are witnessing what a motivated people can do.  It can start a conversation in a house that might not always talk about things like this.  It engages the youth and might produce the next generation of politicians or lawyers.  IF this is the case, they'll better than we are.  They will have grown up in an environment that shows empathy as a great tool of being a kind person.    

While the Women's March was inspirational, what I thought was more important were the airport protests over the Muslim travel ban.  It was more inspirational because it was spontaneous.  It was spontaneous and it spread like wildfire.  From what I could tell, it started in New York and slowly spread across the country.  I was going through my twitter feed and I was getting goosebumps watching and reading from people that were there.  People came out in force to protest the president overreaching.  Lawyers were going to airports and working with those detained to try and get many of them through and to reunited them with families.  Many lawyers working pro bono.  After the first night, there were more staged protests at different airports in solidarity.  Slowly, government officials took action.  Calling for a lift of the ban.  Direct action works.  Maybe not instantly, but politicians aren't always fools.  They know how to stay in the good graces of the public.   

The American people are just starting to find their voice.  They are finding that standing up for what they believe to be right and just is empowering.  They are standing in the face of a man acting like a fascist.  Direct action by the people can lead to change.  Besides, if there isn't mass direct action, how are the Nazis that are now in the white house going to recognize that the country is pissed at them?