Restoring Honor: We came to prepare and gather strength

A BEAUTIFUL, CLEAR DAY, A GATHERING STORM

by Brigitte de Maubec

(Aug. 30, 2010) — Saturday was a beautiful day in Washington. When our caravan of buses coming from New Jersey pulled in, the air was morning crisp and getting warm and the sky was clear blue with no clouds in sight. It was a day already full of facts and emotions bearing the promise of more to come.

I had spent several hours talking to the lady sitting next to me about all the issues preoccupying Main Street America. And me, the ex-Democrat, and she the Bush supporter Republican, had found ourselves in agreement over and over.

As we walked from the Metro station to the Mall around 9:00 am, we merged into a growing flow of Americans going in the same direction, a striking metaphor with many more to come.

Past the Obelisk, the crowd was already dense and I realized that I would not make it past the National WWII Memorial. I settled my chair under the trees just to its left. From there I could not see the Lincoln Memorial but I could glimpse a large screen far away across the pond on its right.

By the time the event started, the grounds around me were packed, as well as the sides of the reflecting pond and the lawn to its left. From that fact we already knew our numbers were over half a million, and people were still coming and coming, filling every inch of space still available.

My most proximate neighbors were two conservative men from Boston, a couple of born-again bikers from North Carolina, a group of tea-partiers from the Colorado River and several all-American families, with adopted daughter from China or Vietnamese grandmother in tow.

Several people wore patriotic outfits or stickers. The American flag was prevalent.

Just as the event was about to start, a flock of geese spontaneously took off from behind the WWII Memorial and descended in formation over the entire reflecting pool length toward the Lincoln Memorial. It was a beautiful omen, and another metaphor in light of the non-cooperating eagle of the Inauguration.

The event started with the Pledge of Allegiance immediately followed by the National Anthem. Say what you want, but close to a million voices raised over the Washington Mall singing the National Anthem moves your soul!

Glenn Beck took the stage. From where I was I could not hear that well. I think the organizers, not anticipating such a crowd, had not wired enough speakers that far away from the Lincoln Memorial. Then, he introduced Governor Palin, and the crowd burst into applause and came to attention. A seven- or eight-year-old little girl who was sitting in front of me and who until then had not paid any attention to the proceedings sprung into action by climbing onto her father’s chair and shoulders in order to catch a glimpse of Governor Palin on the far-away screen.

The event went on.

At one point, three or four agents provocateurs in their 20s appeared on our left carrying racist and insulting signs. They were mainly ignored and easily spotted as everybody else had obeyed the no-sign policy. Irrelevant overall.

I left way before the end, fearing the hundreds of thousands of people descending in the Metro at the same time. On my way back I realized that people were still coming in, and that the lawn between the WWII Memorial and the Obelisk had also been overtaken by Patriots.

Overall, considering the tens of thousands leaving early and coming late, we might have approached 1,000,000 attendees.

As I said, I did not hear the event that well, and I could not see it. But what I could hear and see were the other Americans near me. We talked of nothing of importance really, because the important thing to say had already been said just by being there. I felt secure and protected by the strangers surrounding me. I felt akin to them.

Tired of not counting, we wanted to be counted. Tired of not being heard, we wanted to hear the comforting voice of each other.

In the trenches, there was a definite sense of deep-seated anger at the elite and its corruption of our institutions, of our laws and of the souls of our youth and vulnerable members of society. But it is a constructive anger and an irresistible one that will fuel more than a change of majority in Congress, one that goes way beyond politics. It is the kind of anger which turns to wrath.

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, there was Faith and Love, the kind of Faith and Love of God which we all will need to prevent our anger from turning to the dark side.

It was a beautiful day in Washington. But there is a storm gathering, and we came to prepare, to gather strength and to show force.