Positive Picketing

So the other day I'm walking to the Juice Joint to pick up lunch and I noticed a protest going on down the street from my office.

It wasn't so much the shouts of the people walking in a well-organized picket line that caught my attention as much as the giant inflated RAT in the back of the pick-up truck!   I had never seen anything like it, so I had to take a picture and post it on Facebook.  (One of my FB friends illuminated me: apparently this is a "union rat" ... ohhhhhh)

ANyway - I started thinking.  (OUCH!)

Why is it that people only seem to make a big noise about negative things, like unfair pay?  Or protesting against something they don't believe is good and right, like the anti-gay protesters.  Why is it always so negative and ugly?

And then I remembered a video a friend of mine had sent me a few days back, about people in Germany or somewhere giving away free hugs.  (On further reasearch, there's apparently a whole movement about free hugs... Go check out the Free Hugs Campaign.)  I loved the concept - it's positive and reminds people that there is good will and kindness out there in the world, and most importantly, we're not all alone.

As I walked back from JJ, I decided to walk on the same side of the street as the protest and check it out a little more.  I was interested in how much fun the participants were having.  Yes, it was a protest, and they were angry about how they were being treated, but ... they were having fun!  They were chanting and singing and dancing and it was a joint effort.  They had water and shade for people to sit and rest if they got hot and tired (98* in the sun), they had a leader shouting out the chants, and they switched off that role so no one got tired out.

And I wondered...

What if we had positive picket lines?  What would happen if a bunch of people got together and set up a picket line to publicize something they LIKED?  Can you imagine a big line of happy, dancing, chanting people walking around in a circle ... say in Lafayette Park across from the White House, saying "We like Obama!"   Or maybe in front of the Verizon Center saying "Let's go CAPS!"  Or maybe something more lowkey like giving away free hugs in front of the Vietnam Memorial.   Wouldn't it be great?

I don't know.  There is just too much negativity out there, so I just wish we had more "acceptable" ways of celebrating the positives in life.   Or maybe I've just got stars in my eyes.

I'm gonna figure this out...

A purse is a purse is a purse

I saw somewhere recently that there's a blogger who asks people to send in pictures of what's in their purses.  My first responses:  "Are you flippin' CRAZY?" 


But then today I was looking for a pen.  I had one with black ink, but I needed one with some sort of color for contrast as I marked up my notes.  I reached over the desk to the cup in which I usually keep my pens and realized the contents were all dry-erase, Sharpies, pencils, straws (straws?) or scissors.  "Strange," I said to myself, "where have all my pens gone?"

I remembered putting a pen into my bag yesterday so I could do the crossword on the bus home -- because  I hadn't been able to find a pen on the morning ride.  So, I decided to search for a pen.  I dug and I dug, and then just up-ended my bag and found a pen...weellll, about 20 pens. All different colors.  Got your basic black, blue, and red, but also purple (4), teal, orange, green, and pink.  What's life without a little color???  ;-)

I also found about 8 different types of lip goop (including two Chapsticks, so I'm still the Chapstick Queen), three types of hand lotion, eye liner, and about six hair tie/clip thingies.  Not to mention two phones (one work cell and my old phone that doesn't work but has all my contacts on it... note the absence of my current cell phone... which is LOST!!! sob sob sob  I think it's on an island with a polar bear), a hairbrush, an umbrella, a book, a balsawood fan (engraved (etched?) with "Sara & Dan 06-26-10"  Awwww!), two newspapers, dental floss, a mirror, a notebook, allergy meds, hand sanitizer (2), two folded reusable grocery bags, a Clif bar, a phone headset, gum, nail clippers,  and a Metro card.


Wow.  Who knew how much crap you can fit into one bag?  I wonder what all of this says about me... Obsession with pens, and hair... and who knew I used so much lip goop? 

Now as I leave the office, I'm going to put everything back in the bag, add a bottle of water and head on away hame, as my Scottish friend would say...


So have a lovely day!