Daily Archives: November 18, 2011

Have you ever protested anything?

18 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in postaday2011

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Have I ever protested anything? Yes I have but not really in the sense that the occupywallstreet protestors are doing, I admire their convictions and their passion. I attended an anti-apartheid rally some twenty years ago in Edinburgh Scotland, it was by happenstance that I took part.My friends and I were in Edinburgh exploring the city which is one of the grandest cities, so full of history and beauty (I love Scotland) and we stumbled upon signs advertising the time and place of the rally. My friends and I felt it to be very important to show our support for the cause, I still have pictures and we met a South Afrikaaner who was pro-apartheid. We spent hours arguing with him about how unjust apartheid was and how it wasn’t sustainable as a political system or even an economic one with the global political and economic sanctions against his country. It made for a memorable day and night and my friends and I came away with very powerful memories and emotions.

On the personal front, I suppose you could say that I protested my mother’s strict upbringing by running away to Florida with my best friend when we were 16, not the greatest idea in the world and it didn’t change anything that I was protesting against, but I did learn a serious lesson from my actions. Actions have consequences and those can last for a long time. When I got home, my mother immediately put me to work at my father’s restaurant because hard work in her opinion, was the answer to wayward teens, and those who had too much time on their hands were apt to hatch up nefarious plans. Her plan worked and I developed a very fine work ethic and learned a handy skill set from working in the restaurant.