Someday This War Is Gonna End: War Vigil San Diego

Cross-posted from Calitics

Like thousands of others across California and the United States tonight, I took part in a vigil protesting the continuation of the Iraq War. I was fortunate to have a protest just a bit down the road from me, with folks from Normal Heights, Kensington, and the surrounding area setting up shop on the Adams Ave/I-15 Bridge to catch rush hour traffic on the way home. I managed to arrive late, as I tend to do, but was still able to have a great time discovering that there's lots of hope, even in San Diego.

I don't get as involved in local San Diego action nearly as much as I would like, but I'm really hoping that one of these days (months), my schedule will magically start to line up with more opportunities. But in the meantime, when I get the chance to join in one of these events, it's even more exciting than it might otherwise be.

I was ultimately out for only about 45 minutes or so, but in that time, the response was amazing. The nearly continuous honking from rush hour traffic, the waves, the peace signs, the interested pedestrians were really encouraging. Granted, this neighborhood tends to be more progressive than many other parts of San Diego, but it's always good to recharge the soul with some public support.

My fellow attendees (vigil-antes?) covered many generations, and conversation ranged from impeachment (Bush, Cheney, Nixon) to Huffington Post to Obama to Kucinich and, yes, Calitics :). And the support we received from everyone going by was just as wide-ranging demographically. Colonel Kilgore once said of Vietnam "Someday, this war is gonna end." Tonight was a great opportunity for some optimism, despite the unfortunately somber occasion. I hope the mediocrity of my camera-phone pictures in twilight are compensated for in some small part my my words. This war will end. It's not in the papers, it's on the walls, and these are some of the people who are making it happen:





now BRING EM HOME!