My First Political Rally

    

            If there were ever a time to be politically active, that time would be now.

            After decades of cheering activists and supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood and ACLU and letting my years on the boards of the local and state Sierra Club be my political activism, I am stepping up my involvement. I've seen that numbers make a difference and that crowds grow one person after another. It was high time I walked down off my mountain and took part in a rally, to swell the numbers, to show the world (that part of it that was paying attention) how many people here in Southern Oregon feel, in this case, that it is important, even crucial, that we take action to rectify as much as we can the blame we bear for global warming.

            So I joined the climate march in Medford, Oregon, on Saturday.

          I had mistakenly thought it was a march for science, like marches in Washington, D.C., and other cities recently, so I made a sign that said, "My granddaughter wants to be a scientist." It wasn't inappropriate, though, for a march for the climate, and it generated many comments, especially from people who told me about their grandchildren who are scientists. 

         Other signs were more pertinent to the theme of the march: "Don't be a fossil fool." "Love wins." "Leave it in the earth." "No LNG pipeline." "There is no alternative planet." "If it's not fact, it's fiction." I was encouraged to see these signs and also by the large crowd gathered in the park – about 900 people, the paper said. 

The speeches were fairly generic except for the one by the high school junior, who talked about what it felt like to face such an unknown future as we are leaving her unless we take action to stop or at least to amend climate change. Speeches were translated, phrase by phrase, into Spanish and simultaneously into sign language, a generous gesture, but the dual language presentation doubled the time of the speeches. There was a Latino speaker and a Native American speaker, and there was a Latino dance performance. I wasn't sure of the point of all that, and I was surprised at the almost a-political focus of the rally. Trump and other perpetrators of climate crimes weren't mentioned.

              Then we marched through downtown Medford with our signs.

            The political chants petered out right at the beginning. There was very little traffic on the streets and no one walking around, so our march had little impact. There was no call to action by the speakers and no riling up of emotion over the issues. My first political rally felt low-key and fairly impotent except that the people who were there felt strongly about the importance of their positions and what they were doing to make things go right. I was glad to be among them. I'm glad the people I knew whom I saw there saw that I was there. I was glad that I stood up to be counted. I was glad to add my voice, my presence to the large numbers of people all over the country who are trying to prevent the disasters that Trump is trying to bring down on us all, from environmental to judicial, from immigrant-related to the economy, from international affairs to local effects.

            I'm glad my granddaughter wants to be a scientist. I want her world to be one in which she can be proud of that vocation. I'm glad we live in a country where each voice counts. I'm glad I stood up to be counted.