My weekend in Crawford 8/27-8/28

[WolverineDG]

I had planned to do three separate posts, but with all the news that needs to get out about Katrina & helping folks in LA & MS, I'm condensing it down to 2 posts. Here's the link to my post of yesterday regarding my experiences on Friday:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4500335&mesg_id=4500335

(1) I'm having a hard time dealing with all the good feelings, joy even, that I got by going to Crawford & giving of myself in light of the tragedy that's occurring in LA & MS right now. I feel selfish even saying that I was happy & joyful this weekend doing my part to put an end to war & show support for the troops & their families. But, people did ask me what's next and I think this is it. We have seen from Cindy Sheehan's stand in Crawford that ordinary people like us can come together to work as a community for the betterment of all. What you saw on Saturday & Sunday started out with one woman, a few vets, a bus, and a lawn chair. Three weeks later, and 2500-4000 people felt compelled to gather at Camp 2. Eighteen days, light years apart. Everyone who came was a volunteer in some way. Some cooked, some cleaned, some squirted water & misted people standing in line for shuttles, some performed, some stood Witness with signs along the road, any little thing to show that they too want an answer to the question: For what noble cause are our troops in Iraq? Dancing Bear earlier posted about making a caravan to Louisiana, acting I'm sure on the instincts & feelings he honed during his stay at Camp Casey, and he got pounded on it. :hug: for Dancing Bear. He had the right idea, y'all, just maybe not the best way to go about putting it into action, so stop pounding on him & help him figure out the best way to act on that instinct.

(2) I showed up bright & early Saturday a.m. to begin shuttle duties. I found Parking Barbara & reported for duty. First in the shuttle were Liberal Uprising & the missus. (They also rode with me on Sunday...one more ride & I would have charged them rent! ;) :loveya: ) I think I ran into Dancing Bear at the Peace House & dude, if you were on that shuttle, I honestly can't remember. :blush: I'm sorry we didn't get to meet up again. I got the new directions to Camp 2, since we weren't allowed to shuttle between the Camps & headed out. :) I got to know that road fairly well & only got lost when trying to get to Camp 1 in the dark from Camp 2 on my last run on Saturday. Someone asked me how many trips I made. I have no freakin' clue. I took some time off in the afternoon to hang at the tent, and found the DU table!! When Cindy mentioned DU, we cheered & cheered!!!!! :toast: Apart from simply being there to help out in such an historic event, my next 2 most fantabulous things that happened to me were
(a) Listening to Joan Baez singing "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down" while I was eating lunch and
(b) Making a run to McGregor to pick up Barry Crimmins & having him come out to say "She'll be out in a minute." Who's this "she" you ask?????



(3) I learned the wisdom of the warning not to let hate consume you. Hatred, it appears, is like a sugary snack. Like sugary stuff, it's easy to get & gives you a boost, but then you tank & you have to keep getting more & more & more for a diminshing return. The psycho circus put on by the pro war people in Crawford was more of a hate fest than a display of patriotism. This hatred led folks to doing things they probably wouldn't have done otherwise: holding signs that read "We Love WAR" or painting "Bush #1" on their car windows, like war is a fucking football game. It also led to a church bus full of "Christians" harrassing us at Camp 2 on Sunday. They buzzed those of us holding signs at least 3 times, making rude gestures & hurling insults & other unChristian-like language at us.



They didn't stop until we all got out our cameras & started taking pictures of them & then they couldn't get away fast enough from us.

Hatred also makes people do things like this:



I'm sure this woman is otherwise a nice person, but she's been told to hate us, so she does.

(4) Love, on the other hand, while harder to come by, can propel you to heights you didn't think possible. It leads you to coming together to help one mother & then other families deal with the loss of their loved ones by building beautiful tributes to them like these:





With Love, you can meet up with wonderful people like Walking Mary, who heard about Cindy Sheehan on Amy Goodman & 5 minutes into the interview was on the phone buying a bus ticket, the volunteer at the McGregor hotel where the overflow parking was, saying he was ok being by himself because it gave him time to talk to God, the young musician Kini who gave me a CD of her song written & recorded at Camp Casey as a "tip" for driving her (I understand you can download it from Cindy's site), famous people like Randi Rhodes who could have stayed home but instead came out to sweat with the rest of us, fellow DUers who aren't all that crazy really, all the people who rode back to the Peace House in my shuttle, tired, sweaty, dirty, but happy that they contributed in some way to the peace movement, the vets who began to feel whole again, the families whose grief was lessened by being able to share it with so many.....I'm getting sappy at this point, but I don't care. If you want to know what America is really all about, all the posts & photos out of Camp Casey this past month are it.

And finally, one last picture, the thank you window of my shuttle. Without all of these people & DU, I wouldn't have been able do what I did this weekend & to you I am forever grateful:



dg

[Generic Other]

1. Nice to see fine upstanding Christians giving you the finger!

And the reflection of the peace sign on the glass where the men in the flag shirts are flipping you off is a perfect shot. That one says it all.

Thanks for posting these.

[Eloriel]

2. That is a beautiful tribute

Much more than I could have imagined.

[LiberalUprising]

3. Great pics, thanks for posting and driving the shuttles

We all owe you a debt of gratitude

You ROCK Wolverine!