Car Honks

 Today, me and my parents went to our local "No Kings" protest. We made signs and chanted along and listened to the mayor poorly but earnestly stumble through a speech-- his policies are better than his public speaking. Mostly we stood along the busiest road in the city with a bunch of signs and cheered when cars honked at us.

 If I'm honest I was surprised at how nice everyone was. The protestors I knew would be cool, but drivers heading past us were mostly very polite. Lots of waves and thumbs-ups. Nobody flipped me off once! There was a lot of honking in solidarity to the cause, which as far as happy reasons for headaches ranks pretty high up there. 

 A few weeks ago there was a strike at my university amongst some of the student employees. I didn't cross the picket line, of course; I had been one of the striking workers last spring. On the picket line, there were plenty of nice people, but also a lot of rude and scary individuals. More than a handful of people were nearly hit by angry drivers. We had the cops called on us, as well as a private security force that stood around asking for our full names. The protest today felt a lot kinder and safer than that picket line felt-- not to say that it's better or worse to attend one event, just that there was a very different public response.

 In both situations, we got plenty of friendly car honks. It makes me glad to feel respected, even when someone doesn't agree with us or our cause. And, it makes me glad that the language of laying on the horn shifts from something angry to something supportive if enough people are standing on the side of the road carrying signs.