I’d rather fly solo than stay on the ground!
Posted on 03/11/2003 12:46:10 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Friday, 7 March 2003
Due to no one’s fault but my own (lack of planning on my part and work or family commitments on the part of USAF1991 and spinner55) I was flying solo again on Friday and Saturday. I arrived at the Stephenson County Courthouse at about 4:40pm on Friday, and while I was still getting my stuff out of the car I got the first reaction to the “HONK IF YOU SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” sign. A police officer in a cruiser parked across the street honked and extended his fist in support. I smiled and gave him the thumbs-up in return. I placed myself on the usual corner and put a clipboard with a hardcopy of the In Our Name Petition on a nearby bench, along with a sign especially for International Women’s Day which read “SADDAM=RAPIST.” I encountered a pedestrian right off the bat and asked her if she’d sign the petition. I won’t repeat what she said here, but let’s just say her vilgarity was not aimed at the troops, but at people like me who would harass someone on the street. Yeesh! She also expressed some choice words about how we wouldn’t be fighting this war if we weren’t so dependant on Middle East oil. I didn’t bother arguing.
The same cop who gave me the first honk of the day before pulled up in the cruiser, now with his partner driving. He rolled down his window and asked, “How’s the support?” I gave him a brief summary about how well the last few freeps have gone, and as the light turned green I got another honk and thumbs-up from both cops as they moved through the intersection.
As usual, the vast majority of drivers were honking. Here are a few thumbnail sketches:
As I was turned North toward traffic coming down Galena Ave, I heard a voice behind me: “Hey dude, turn the sign around!” The source was a young black man hanging partway out the back window of a Lincoln Continental. He read the sign, then said “I ain’t got no quarrel, man, but I’ll get on. Honk! Honk!” A second or two later, the driver honked too.
At one point I heard sirens and I could see a fire engine coming up Galena. As they went through the intersection they let out a big honk, but I figured that probably had more to do with moving traffic than the sign. However, when they came back through on their way back to the station, they let out a looooooooonnnnnngggggg burst of air horn and waved.
As I’ve mentioned before, the worst reaction we get from most people is the “I’m studiously ignoring you” reaction. One woman was doing this to me (I saw here read the sign carefully and then deliberately turn her head away), but as she went through the intersection a small boy in the back seat waved at me enthusiastically! He appeared to be too young to be a reader, so he must have been responding to the American flag border of the sign. I got a good laugh out of that.
The “thumbs-down” idiot in the gray rustbucket came through not long before I packed up. I reacted fast enough this time that he saw me pretend to stick my finger up my nose to the second knuckle. He got caught by a red light a block north and I made sure he could see me do it a couple of more times in his rear view mirror. Next time he’s caught at that light, I’m going to have a Muhammad slip for him, the one where the Iraqi prisoner says he wishes the peace protestors could suffer just 24 hours in Saddam’s prisons. I’ll just slip it through his window. More classy that way...
Egressed the area around 5:30.
Saturday, 8 March 2003
On my way home from preaching at the County Nursing Home, I decided to squeeze in a short freep. I parked near the corner of Empire and West, walked over and unveiled the sign. As I began , ice pellets and snow were already starting to come down and there was a stiff wind going, but I was determined to stay there until I got at least 100 honks. I lost count somewhere over 100 just a few minutes after I started, and I didn’t leave until the snow really started to come down, probably around honk number 200. Folks, tell all the troops you know that the well of support is deep, deep, DEEP!
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