The day was overcast, not cold.
Threatening rain.
The crowd electric and engaged.
Showing up in numbers unexpected.
The kindness of people on full display.
And also their fear, anger, and disgust at
what our country was becoming.
For me, a product of the sixties,
it was reminiscent of rallies past.
Efforts to end a war,
marches for Civil Rights,
rallies to move our society forward.
Most heartening for me, and
I suspect others my age,
was the overwhelming number of young people.
It gave me hope.
Women's March to DC - Asheville, January 21, 2017
Women's March to DC - Asheville, January 21, 2017
A couple of times this week, I've revisited Deja Vu,
the Cosby, Stills, Nash and Young album from 1970, and the song,
Teach Your Children.
Now, forty-seven years later,
the song, especially the last verse,
rings true and prophetic.
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
Women's March to DC - Asheville, January 21, 2017