Before we get started, here\u2019s a funny story out of Portland.\u00a0 There is an ongoing demonstration in front of the ICE facility there.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not the nightly \u201cbattle\u201d of the George Floyd era.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s simply folks expressing their displeasure with the actions of ICE in Portland.\u00a0\u00a0There are regular folks with signs and there are religious leaders praying for ICE to stop. One minister was shot in the head by ICE with a pepper ball from the roof of the building (that\u2019s true).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then, there\u2019s the dancing frogs.\u00a0 The frogs captured the imagination of the Nation, big, cartoony frogs standing up to ICE agents in full battle regalia.\u00a0\u00a0Supposedly, one day the frogs showed up with fishing poles, donuts on the hook as bait.\u00a0\u00a0What were they doing:\u00a0\u00a0ICE fishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I admit,I had a tough time \u201cfact-checking\u201d that story \u2013 but even if it\u2019s just a \u201ctale\u201d (a frog tail?) it\u2019s still a good one.\u00a0\u00a0If they didn\u2019t do that, they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saturday I was Umpire number Six at the Central District Cross Country Championships.\u00a0\u00a0An umpire at a cross country meet is a passive task.\u00a0\u00a0You watch the runners go by (twice each race, twelve races total).\u00a0\u00a0You make sure they stay on the course, in between the white lines painted on the grass.\u00a0\u00a0Umpires watch and report athletes who foul each other in some way, or discover athletes who are in illegal uniforms, or call out other illegal aids from non-competitors.\u00a0\u00a0And, a couple of times during the six hour meet, I went to the aid of an injured athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If all that sounds exciting, it really wasn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 The mere presence of umpires keeps runners from doing anything stupid.\u00a0\u00a0So, for most of the day I\u2019m \u201cjust an observer\u201d, a guy in a white shirt with a white signal flag, trying not to get \u201ccoach-y\u201d and get caught up in the competition.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, I get to see many old friends from my decades as a high school cross country coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cross Country runners are their teammates best fans.\u00a0\u00a0When the boys team is running, the girls team is cheering and vice versa. And, inevitably, there\u2019s \u201cthat parent\u201d with the cowbell (just what we need, more cowbells!!).\u00a0\u00a0Folks say some interesting things out there on the course, many that I don\u2019t think would motivate me as a runner with two miles in and one more to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it didn\u2019t surprise me to hear chanting during the race.\u00a0\u00a0But this chant broke my intense \u201cofficial\u201d concentration:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cO-H, I-O, Donald Trump has got to go!!!!\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That wasn\u2019t part of the meet.\u00a0\u00a0But just down the road, hundreds of Americans were protesting the Trump Administration in the \u201cNo Kings\u201d march.\u00a0\u00a0It was the local town; Hilliard’s version of the event.\u00a0\u00a0And there were smaller marches all over Central Ohio; in Mt Gilead and Pickerington, Newark and Westerville, Mt. Vernon, Grove City and in deep-red Somerset out in Perry County, as well as the \u201cbig\u201d rally downtown at the Statehouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They joined an estimated seven million Americans who rallied, marched and chanted on October 18th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cNo Kings\u201d movement is a demonstration of Americans showing \u201cNo Fear\u201d of retribution by the Trump Administration.\u00a0\u00a0They sent a message, one that MAGA-Republicans certainly heard.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cNo Kings\u201d wasn\u2019t the radical-left, George Soros backed, \u201cAntifa\u201d, undocumented, Marxist, Communist, America \u201chating\u201d violent rioters that President Trump, Speaker Johnson and the rest warned about.\u00a0\u00a0They were Moms and Dads with their kids, Grandparents with white hair, teenagers in their first demonstration, and just regular folks who finally found a way to stand up against the America we are becoming.\u00a0\u00a0They were NOT AFRAID, something that it\u2019s getting harder to say in this era of MAGA repression.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one was arrested.\u00a0\u00a0Seven million demonstrators:\u00a0\u00a0no violence, burning, overturned cars, or tear gas.\u00a0\u00a0The only police actions were to stop the few counter-demonstrations that went too far.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did they achieve?\u00a0\u00a0In a one word answer, hope.\u00a0\u00a0Many opponents of the Trump Administration worry that they are alone, isolated from the \u201cResistance\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They feel helpless against the impact of tariffs, ICE \u201cvanishing\u201d neighbors down the street, and a President who makes a public spectacle of executing Venezuelan fisherman on the high seas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seven million Americans stood up on Saturday.\u00a0\u00a0Some even missed their Saturday college football game on TV, as if that was some kind of American sin.\u00a0\u00a0Gosh, even in O-H-I-O (if you know, you know) the big rally with ten thousand people happened right after the Buckeyes kicked off in Wisconsin.\u00a0\u00a0It didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0\u00a0Standing up to Trump authoritarianism was more important.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was unable to march.\u00a0\u00a0But, very quietly, under my breath, at Umpire position number six, I was joining in with the good folks of Hilliard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n They gave me hope too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n