Courage

Remember John Nirenberg? He is the man from Brattleboro, Vermont who started walking on December 1, from Boston to Washington D.C. (500 miles over forty days) to petition Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to put impeachment proceedings back on the table. Well, despite the rain, snow, ice, and a sprained ankle, he has reached New Jersey. When I first read about John, I imagined a Pied Piper, picking up other marchers as he walked along US Route 1, a groundswell of concerned citizens who share our outrage at the dismantling of the Constitution by the very people who have sworn to uphold it. That hasn’t happened. Yes, each day there are one or two people who go out of their way to walk a few miles with him, who bring him hot chocolate, honk their horn in support, give him a thumbs up. But essentially, he walks alone, carrying his yellow sign “Impeach Bush/Cheney.” Is there so little courage, so little willingness to defend our basic rights and freedoms here at home? I wish I could walk with John – but since I can’t I do my part by writing about him and his mission. We are in Canada as an act of protest. That decision was not taken lightly. My own ancestors left England in 1635, on the ship “Hopewell” bound for America. So it is with great sadness that after working hard to make changes as a citizen within the political framework, I feel now that my only option is to leave and work from outside the wall. Perhaps I am following in my ancestor’s footsteps.

Which leaves me with a question… what will it take to wake up America before its citizens realize (too late) what they have lost?

... P. L. Morningstar
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