september protest in DC

apathy is a luxury many (US)americans seem to be able to afford these days. i'm not really sure how, considering how much we already pay for fear and ignorance...

still protest can be an odd thing sometimes. screaming and finger pointing is not my cup of tea sotospeak. it can tend to remind one of a family gathering gone bad.

that said, it does have its place and i went to DC to check it out. my mom and I decided to make the trip out on a whim, just to join the numbers and watch it all go down, and of course take some photos. the best part for me was to be there with my mom... reminiscent of the days when i was little and she would take me to marches having to do with the arms race.

the thing i will take with me forever from that day has to do with the photo of the man sitting on the curb (below)... i was dead tired. i'd flown on a red eye to DC from San Diego. I'd gotten one hour of sleep. a few hours later and after about 50 speeches about every plight from palestine to uganda, we were marching with hundreds of thousands. I was freakin exhausted and in pain. I'd run a marathon before, but never experienced anything like this.

I turned to my mom at one point and asked if we could sit down. The man you see in the photo overheard me and asked if we would help him find a spot to rest as well. Turns out he was blind. This blind man was protesting in this hoard of people, all by himself, carrying his cane and this tiny blue flag.

as i sat next to him on the curb i snapped this shot. it's not the best photo, but i did not feel good about setting up some perfect photo or exploiting the situation past necessity. I really just took it so i would never forget him.