Ok. Been there, done that. Got the tee-shirt.

It was a long tiring day, but the roads were clear of snow and DC was beautiful. I guess it says something about my complexion that on the coldest day of the year I managed to get a sunburn. I am also totally out of shape. Five hours outside should not have left my legs that wobbly.

I went with my friend Vic, the chemistry professor. He is a U.S. born American, but he spent most of his childhood in Calcutta, and still has ties to his parent's Bengali (sp?)culture. He knows his history up, down, left, and right, and his background gives him a different take on a lot of international issues.

I'm glad I went. Not certain what impact this rally had but I think it was important to be counted. Scanned the t-shirt into the computer but I'm not certain how to upload it. Will have to email the admins.

I think I'll end this entry with a favorite passage of mine. It's from 'All Quiet on the Western Front' by Erich Maria Remarque (A.W. Wheeden transl.)

"The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief. We had to recognize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs. They surpassed us only in phrases and in cleverness. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces.

"While they continued to talk and write we saw the wounded and the dying...We loved our country as much as they, we love our country, we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the true from the false, we had suddenly learned to see. And we saw that there was nothing of their world left."