Amazing Grace
Aug 17th, 2005 at 11:40 pm by Susie
Tonight I went to one of the anti-war candlelight vigils, held at a Methodist church in Germantown. Celeste Zappala, whose son Sgt. Sherwood Baker was killed in Iraq, was one of the speakers. She stood on the altar, flanked by her two surviving sons and her daughter-in-law and spoke quietly to the 300 or so people in the pews.
And when she gestured toward the baptismal font, saying simply, “He was baptized here,” it seemed like there wasn’t one person in the place who didn’t choke up with tears.
After the speeches, the crowd filed out holding their candles and lined both sides of Germantown Avenue. (I spotted actor David Morse from “Hack” standing across the street.) Drivers going by honked their horns and waved.
At eight o’clock, the church carillion rang out “Amazing Grace” and the crowd sang along. And it was then I saw a driver hold up the little halogen light on his keychain as he drove past.
We’re not alone. Remember that.
Wow, your’s sounds way more organized than ours was.
Hermosa Beach, CA. About 200 people or so. On the beach at sunset, we just formed a circle around a sort-of dug-out area in the sand - the only place that candles would stay lit in the constant breeze off the ocean. So instead of holding candles, we encircled an array of candles, signs and flags stuck into the sand. We observed a few minutes of silence, sang a few songs, a couple parents of people serving in Iraq thanked us for coming, and that was it.
It was nice, but it wasn’t church carillons and ‘Amazing Grace’.
There were about 30-40 people on the corner of Tyson and Bous Sts in Phildelphia.
There was chatting, candles and sign holding. Initially I was afraid of some nitwit in a pickup truck with chain being dragged in the back showing up and ruining things but it didn’t happen. There was horn honking and cheering the horn honking. A nice cop came by and chatted for a few minutes saying he just needed to check on why the group was hanging out on the corner. It was a small slightly disorganized group but I think we made out point.
Later I bought a button that says “Think it’s not illegal yet” and another one with the definition of Liberal and its antonym, conservative. It’s something I can put up at work and no one can make a complaint, it’s just the definitions from the dictionary.
A couple photos from Hermosa Beach.
http://www.hoffmania.com/blog/2005/08/we_dont_have_to.html
Very moving, Susie! Let’s hope this movement gathers pace, so that the Boy King cannot ignore it any longer ..