Yes, I went to the Restoring Honor Rally in DC on August 28, and yes, I took a lot of pictures after sweet-talking my way pretty close to the stage.
I didn't quite know what to expect, but Glenn made it clear that the rally was not going to be political, and he asked everyone nicely to not bring signs or other political objects that anyone could misconstrue or twist around to their own purposes. With this in mind, I wore a purple Phillies t shirt from spring training and a Phillies visor. The only thing I carried that gave anything else away was the little American flag sticking out of my camera bag. Looking back on it now, maybe the reason that many people didn't talk to me was that I showed few outward signs of allegiance to our country-maybe they thought I was a liberal reporter in disguise. LOL I was also by myself when most people there had family or friends with them.
Anyway, I was there, I took lots of pictures, I listened to the speakers, I applauded, I cried-in short-I participated. I'm not going to give you an entire account of the proceedings; I will just say that Glenn spoke about honor and honorable people in this country, the role of faith, hope, and charity in the founding and in our lives today, and he gave out awards to three people he felt embodied those elements in our country today.
The whole thing was VERY inspiring and made me feel happy, proud, and lucky (or blessed) to be a citizen of this great country; blessed that all of my ancestors were bold, crazy, or just plain self-preserving enough to get on a ship and make it here. (FYI I am half Russian Jew, one quarter German from the Carpathians, and one quarter borderlands Scot. All of my ancestors came here at the end of the 19th century, some a bit earlier than others.)
Many parts of the rally were also VERY religious; not just spiritual, but religious, in a Christian sense. Now you may wonder how I, as an agnostic, felt about the religious aspect and the praise, not just of God and faith, but of Jesus. Well. I'm not easily put off by religion, I believe that everyone has the right to believe what they will, as long as they don't try to push me into believing the same. (I won't go into how followers of one particular "religion" want to kill me for being an unbeliever, that's another blog-or several-entirely.)
As the daughter of a lapsed Methodist and a lapsed Jew who together joined and brought their children to a Unitarian church, I am understandably a bit ambivalent/confused about organized religion. I won't say there is certainly a God, but I won't say that there isn't. As I get older I am leaning towards His existence, but then I also now believe that everything happens for a reason and there are no coincidences, so go figure. But this is not about my religious beliefs, but about how I felt about what happened at the rally.
I have to tell you again that I was not insulted in any way; I do believe that we are in some really deep shit right now, and you know maybe we need to reach out to a higher power to help us be strong and fight. I don't believe that God will bring us victory; I sincerely believe that is up to us, and it will be a long hard slog if we want to keep this great experiment as the brightest bastion of freedom in the world.
We are up against some formidable foes; internal actors who would ignore/spit on/subvert the constitution and continue to increase the size and power of the federal government for their own aims, including socialists, Alinskyites, etc, AND those, both from outside, and unfortunately now inside, who seek to bring us under the thumb of sharia law. I have argued with friends on facebook about these people; there are many "tolerant" folks who will not understand that even if there are a lot of muslims who say they don't think terrorism is right, their holy book commands them to kill infidels if said infidels will not convert. I sincerely believe that even though we don't all have knives at our throats, sharia is creeping into our nation and through political correctness, threats, intimidation and worse, they are gaining a foothold without any bombs at all. And we are so complacent and fat in our good fortune and the fruits of our labors that many of us refuse to believe that anyone would not want to gather round the campfire and sing kumbayah. It is beyond their comprehension that people would be driven to jihad, both physical violence and creeping sharia, JUST BECAUSE their leader (who is hundreds of years dead btw) told them to drive out infidels. This is all it takes; it has nothing to do with our actions. They may say it is because we are in their countries, but until we understand and accept that there is NOTHING we can do to change their thinking, no program to eradicate poverty, no process of appeasement-because it isn't what we do-it's who we are-it's the very fact of our existence that makes us a target, we remain sitting ducks.
Whew-this was not going to be about Islam but once I get started... Anyway-I was inspired, not oppressed or insulted, by the rally, and I am taking steps to get right in my own life, even without a steadfast belief in God. I believe in the people of the United States of America, because WE are responsible for our destiny at this juncture and always, and we need to step up and reclaim our country.
OK-if you made it through, thank you. If you are just here for the pictures-let me explain just a bit. I had a long day in DC, and the rally was only the start of it. I also visited two of my favorite museums on the mall, and one of my favorite restaurants before heading back to the Lincoln Memorial (and in the process, the WWII Memorial and Washington Monument) for some more pictures. So-enjoy and thanks for coming over.
Oh and as always, these pictures and more are on my website, http://www.elizabethseyes.com/
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