I laughed and said "Ma'am, Al Sharpton is a pretender. He is going to tell you to pretend that the color of your skin matters. He is going to ask you to ignore the now overwhelming proof that 50 years after the Civil Rights movement, blacks are now destroying each other faster than the KKK could have dreamed."
As people streamed in, like ants to a picnic, it was the most orderly, polite, and helpful affair as people took position for the rally the next day. Shouts of "Welcome!" and "Thank you for coming!" rang out from strangers.
So, these people didn’t have any wheelchair-bound friends coming. They didn’t know anyone in wheelchairs, but they were on the lookout for STRANGERS in wheelchairs who MIGHT be coming, and proactively decided they were going to reserve a space for them, on their own, coming to the rally site at midnight the night before to do it.
When K. told them he was the only one of us camping out that night, these same people said, "Well, it’s official, you are a McCallister now. You are now part of the McCallister Family from Willmette, North Carolina for the duration of this rally and beyond if you like". ... When K. tried to curl up on the ground with his backpack for a pillow, the McCallisters said, "Oh, no you don’t buddy. We have all this space right here on the blanket, so you are sleeping there. And here’s a real pillow. Do you want any hot chocolate and s’mores before you go to sleep?" The McCallisters shared everything they brought with K. and adopted him into their group.
It was very rough for some sleeping out on the dirt, grass, rocks, and cement, and we’ve seen people lose their manners and temper at large events like this in Chicago, waiting just an hour or so for some program to start on the lawn in Grant Park. But there were no arguments we could hear…no incidents of people acting out in anger…no fights over territory on that grass.
They only had to say it ONCE, and then the crowd just politely told anyone who would come later, not knowing, that they had been told to move from those paths and that we needed to keep those paths cleared in case of emergencies. No one argued. No one tried to defy the system. No one thought they were entitled to break the rules. They just peacefully complied and policed themselves…and the paths were clear for emergencies all day.
By the time the rally was about to begin, the McCallister family had dispatched itself to find anyone in a wheelchair and bring them close enough to see. They found three men in wheelchairs and one grandma. All four of them became "honorary McCallisters" too, and we all sat together in the space the McCallisters had reserved.
We all saw, at various times, people get up from their places to make coffee or donut runs. When they would get up, they would ask the people immediately around them if they wanted anything too.
As the rally was getting closer to starting, we saw people all throughout the crowd hold up garbage bags and ask if others in the crowd could take some of them and disperse them, so that no trash would be left behind.
Throughout the day, as people would try to make their way through the crowd, returning from coffee runs or bathroom breaks, people were so kind in letting them pass through and get by. "You need to get back to your family? Here, let me help you," they’d say, with thank-yous extended in return.
So everyone in the crowd seemed respectful of one another, and tried to make sure they did nothing to take away from the enjoyment of those around them. So, there was no talking. There was no loud eating. There was no distracting behavior. It was the most respectful any of us have ever seen a large crowd behave.
When Governor Sarah Palin spoke at the rally, and told stories about wounded veterans, the crowd became incredibly emotional and we saw many people crying. STRANGERS gave them comfort, held them, and joined in for a tear or two because the Governor was so moving, and the tales she told so patriotic and full of emotion.
As the sun really started to beat down, and people really started to feel the heat, the Momma Grizzlies made sure everyone around them had water. They had brought more than they needed because they figured strangers would need water too.
K. now has a place to stay if ever he’s in Wilmette, North Carolina. The rest of us now have places to go and visit where people we met at this rally live. And they expect us all to come. These were not just throwaway "let’s do lunch" invitations. It was incredible.
People left the area in an orderly fashion, walking out like streams of ants, in single file lines, just as they came in. Elderly people who had trouble walking on the uneven ground got the assistance of everyone around them. Paths were cleared, without anyone having to ask, for those in wheelchairs. As we’ve noted before, but can never emphasize enough, THE LAWNS LOOKED BETTER WHEN THE CROWD LEFT, THAN BEFORE WE CAME.
Once you have established the premise that hateful ideas must be dismissed without further thought or discussion, immense power accrues to whoever gets to classify ideas as “hateful.” Hatefulness becomes a virus, spreading rapidly through association with anyone the elite have identified as a carrier. You don’t have to argue with the infected, or consider the merits of their arguments… just avoid all contact with them. Thinking unclean thoughts could cause the contagion to spread.
Moreover, there's a subtle but important distinction here that shouldn't be missed: it's one thing to condemn a person's behavior or his position on an issue, but if you move on from that to condemning him as a human being because of his sexual orientation, you've gone too far.
Are we better off with gays in the GOP, or telling them to get lost so they can join the Democrats where they will be radicalized and turned back against us? Do we want gays in churches learning about Jesus and the Bible, or kick them out so the only place they feel comfortable is in clubs and bars? If we want to diminish the gay identity group, the first thing we have to do is stop discriminating against it.
