Today’s post is a mashup between our unexpectedly damp anti-gun violence protest on March 14th and a great memory of another protest in the rain from 1963.
(from Michelle at Small Deeds Done)
“You never know when you’re someone else’s inspiration.
In 1963, a group of women protested (in the rain) in front of the Kennedy White House. They were there on behalf of Women Strike for Peace – an antinuclear organization that began when the founder got fed up and started a telephone tree to rally fellow mothers against nuclear testing.
At that time, the U.S. was still conducting aboveground nuclear testing and radioactive fallout was showing up in breast milk and baby teeth. Women Strike for Peace was advocating for the testing to end.
So there they were, standing in front of the White House on a rainy morning in 1963.
A participant later admitted that, standing there in the rain, she felt “foolish, and futile”.
And really, can you blame her? She was likely soaked, and freezing, and holding a sign that was getting battered by the weather. And she didn’t even have Twitter followers to complain to!
It wasn’t until years later, when she heard Dr. Benjamin Spock speak, that she learned that the “turning point for him was seeing a small group of women standing in the rain, protesting at the White House.”
“If they were so passionately committed, he thought, he should give the issue more consideration himself.”
He became one of the most high-profile anti-nuclear activists of his time.
All because he was inspired by a bunch of women holding signs in the rain.
You literally may never know how many people you inspire. You probably won’t ever know who, exactly, you inspire.
Maybe the telephone call that you make – the story that you tell – the post that you write – the march that you organize… Maybe those actions will be the inspiration for someone else to do something amazing.
So, yes. We take action to change the course of our nation’s history.
But in doing so we inspire one another, and thereby inspire the entire Resistance.
So even if you feel foolish, or futile, or like your contribution is too small to matter …
Know that even if you can’t see the evidence of it yet, you’re an indispensable part of this movement.
In fact, you’re an inspiration.
So let’s get to work!”
From Indivisible Ventura: Yes, you are all inspirational! Thanks to all who braved the elements and came out. It was obvious that a lot of drivers were happy to see us.
