"all we are saying, is give peace a chance"
we went to a "peace vigil" last night at balboa park in san diego. we didn't really think about it before we went, but as we were parking, next to this giant circle of people, faces aglow with candle-filled dixie cups, i said, "wait, do you think there are going to be people speaking, singing, or what?"

yup. they were singing. over and over again, the meditative refrain "all we are saying, is give peace a chance" echoed around the circle. it was very pretty, and peaceful. (i'd hope).

however, aside from a few short periods of personal reflection and meditation and even prayer about peace, i was mostly just looking around and playing with the way the wax dripped from the candle into the cup. i did take something important away from this event: the sheer volume of participants. i was sincerely struck by how many people turned out. it choked me up to see old people, families, babies, and 6 year olds amongst the usual kill-the-man twenty-somethings and college students. oh, and people were burning sage, which smelled REALLY good.

i felt that the singing, which was just short of the cum-by-ya chants we know and love (and make fun of), was not quite what we needed. while it was repetitive, the core of the Taize philosophy of meditative worship, it just didn't seem like enough. i kept having to remind myself that any "product" of this, or any vigil would be to be a visible, peaceful, protesting presence, and to instill meditation and even prayer in the participants.

lots of vibes were sent in the way of peace last night. but i just have an itch that the right-wingers found humor in our little sage-burning, cum-by-ya-singing hippie circle.

anyway, after this morning, we should change the refrain to, "all we are saying, is give multi-lateral UN support a chance."