I finally made it over to Liberty Park today at lunchtime to spend some time with Occupy Wall Street and while it's not the demonstration I've been waiting for my whole life, it's pretty close. People are loud, drumming, dancing and organizing. While the numbers are not huge, the momentum, morale and intention are tremendous.
Chase Manhattan Plaza, over a block to the east, and the bank building itself are locked up tight. The lobby and the plaza are usually wide open to the public but not today, and probably haven't been since Saturday. The area around the stock exchange and Wall Street is closed up tighter than I've ever seen. Security in the days after the attacks on September 11th wasn't this tight. Incredible fear in the face of peaceful protest, must be some serious guilt going on.
I was feeling really badly at the beginning of this month. The 10 year anniversary of 9/11 was devastating in alot of ways. All these years of pain. It made me nauseous to see George Bush there, and even sicker that anyone would cheer him. The self-righteous selfishness of so many people in this country, that just permeates with sheer hatred sometimes, combined with yes, disappointment with Obama, has led me to the believe lately that the change I've always wanted to see in this country will never occur in my lifetime. But today, in that little park, I got a little bit of that hope back. That flicker of light in the darkness that says the future may be brighter, I thought it was gone, but it's not. It's still there.
Thank you everyone at Occupy Wall Street. Part of me hopes that you're there tomorrow, and next week and next month but the other part say's that I hope to see you go, because when you do, maybe, just maybe, decency has won.