“I’m looking for reasons to live happily”

At a small-town anti-war protest on February 15, 2003.  Fear, disgust, and an overwhelming sense of impotence had been building inside me for weeks prior to this.  The night before the protest, I happened to see Bowling for Columbine, and was struck by its argument of there being a “culture of fear” in the US; this “culture” is largely responsible for the high level of gun-related homicides here.  And it seems clear that most of the arguments in favor of attacking Iraq play upon fears in rather dramatic ways.  The overwhelming sense that emerged from the protest was that we weren’t going to be coerced into fear, and that we wanted to reclaim some joy in living.  It must be remembered that walking down the middle of a public street with hundreds and thousands of others is, in addition to being a right, a beautiful, sensual pleasure.