Two years later

We were standing at the intersection of Main and Moody again, demonstrating against the war. Cars passed -- many drivers honked and made peace or thumbs up signs. Several -- all men, two on motorcycles -- yelled, belligerant, "Support our troops !" as if there were some better way to support them than to remove them from the peril of this unnecessary, ill-conceived and immoral war.

It was a beautiful day. Almost warm, windy and bright. Right across the street from where I stood, on the top floors of an office building was "AthenaHealth," a business owned by a cousin of George Bush. Its sign has a pretty logo, three graceful branches. That, plus the image of the goddess "Athena" suggests a business devoted to something beautiful and salubrious. Like, well, health. But, no. It's an electronic medical billing company. Devoted to dollars.

This particular Bush was in the news, recently, for vocally opposing a bill that would forbid offshore outsourcing of medical data entry jobs. The bill, written by Representative Ed Markey, is meant to protect both privacy and jobs. I mentioned the building's Bush connection to the man and woman standing beside me. The woman (we'd been introduced -- she's from the Unitarian Church) looked over and, wryly, noted, "On the shoulders of a bank !"

Indeed.

At the end of the vigil we formed a circle and joined hands. The Unitarian minister said a few words, we had a moment of silence, then sang "We Shall Overcome."

There were demonstrations like this all over the country -- all over the world -- today. To paraphrase Raymond Carver: small good things.