Five to eleven million (give or take a few)

A funny thing happened on the way to the protest…. 

Bus after bus passed us by, not stopping because they were packed with so many people that they couldn’t fit any more in. We waited with our signs. Watched the buses pass. Waited some more. People in the buses waved to us. Eventually we decided to walk our old bones and our signs back to Sue’s house, where we sat in her garden, drank iced coffee, and made this blip. 

A group of young people organized a sitting meditation that we intended to join (and bring a sign for), but we told them on a Signal chat not to wait for us; we couldn’t get there. We were happy to learn that about 50,000 people did get there (according to the mayor), in Portland alone and (who's counting?) many millions all over the country.

They demonstrated their belief in social services, the arts, and peace; their solidarity with Palestine and with good people being incarcerated, deported, and endangered; their opposition to Trump and all the oligarchs he rode in on. It was an opportunity for community building, for organizing. An opportunity for the expression of hope, for a demonstration that a better world is possible.