This week, I made it to the weekly peace rally at mill creek park on the country club plaza. There was something different then times before, and it was lining the sidewalks. The pro war counter rallies had began. It simply felt weird. And not in a ‘good’ way. We debated several minutes about joining. It was a honking frenzy, but with the “pro war” folks standing next to the “anti war” folks, it was difficult to tell what message was getting across.

I watched a local “news” station camera man tell a pro war woman he was glad to see them out there finally. She asked that he’d make sure he got a good shot of the people there to "support our troops" (?!). He replied, “oh, you can bet on it!” Glancing over at me, as he'd just heard me mention the ugliness i hadn't noticed in my past sunday's there. As if I don’t support our troops. The person to direct anger at, perhaps, should be the person who ordered them away in the first place .… how supportive is it to risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in an unjustified, ridiculous war? I know a few of these people. I want to see them again. Alive. Unscarred.

A man approached me and asked, “what side are you on?” I couldn’t really tell if we shared the same opinion, yet I felt a bit uneasy. I said, “what do you mean?”
“well, are you for or against?”
I thought, “ peace? War? Surely he can’t be asking me if I’m for war?!” but all I said was, “for or against what?”
“*sigh* are YOU for freedom or not?
I didn’t understand.
“I don’t understand.”
“look, I’ve got signs here that I’m giving away, and I just want to know if you want one – O.K?”.
my first time being confronted at a peace rally. I think this is the level of what the police expect in unruly protesters. Except this is a relatively new addition to a weekly event, that has so far, been about non-violence. I guess violence happens when you mix war with peace....

I read a sign that said, “kill all suspected terrorists – god bless America”. whatever that’s supposed to mean. Isn’t that the same mentality of some of what this broad definitaion of terrorism is? “kill all suspected infidels” ring any bells? Speaking of septemeber 11th – the bumperstickers lie. We are not united. We don’t “always remember”. We apparently have long forgotten to not be able to see that a “shock and awe” bombing campaign slightly resembles watching two airplanes crash into the world trade center towers. Except we don’t see the part where people die, or flee for their lives. There are no windows to jump from when buildings just explode. Indeed, somebody needs to bless America, there’s a hole in our collective soul.

A kindred spirit told me about how he was punched in the face last week while crossing the street. Several acts of violence have occurred, fist fights and the such. This wasn’t the case before the pro war group added their voices. I can’t say too much, because I truly believe in free speech. They have as much a right to be there as anyone. I simply find it interesting that the “peace” rallies are no longer “peaceful”. The one place I could go to seek solace in company, and reflect is changed. No longer is it a place of refuge, but yet another place of war. A place where I don’t feel safe. I guess terrorism has many different faces.