Loading ...It was a cloudy, muggy, but fairly mild day today in the San Fernando Valley, as remnants of a recent Caribbean hurricane worked their way into Southern California. At the crack of dawn I awoke to get to the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park and lay claim to the prime area of real estate that Fathers 4 Justice and the National Coalition of Free Men, L.A. would inhabit for the next 8 hours.In the "cooler" morning hours, I began setting up tents, tables and chairs for our invited guests, as well as people who'd drop in from driving by, or just being in the park. After a couple of hours of work, the entire set up was ready for guests, and I was ready for a break. I stretched out in the reclining lawn chair I'd brought and relaxed as the tree squirrels frolicked about, scrounging for food abandoned by yesterday's picnickers.As I kicked back, I was really enjoying myself, watching the reactions of motorists passing by. People would stop at the intersection, then crane their necks to read our signs, while waiting for the light to change. It would be no exaggeration to say that, during the course of the day, scores of people read our signs (at length), and hundreds of people got briefer views. I recall one woman, stopped at the light, who had her neck turned about 135 degrees and was staring intently at the "CAN YOU GET BACK MY DADDY" sign. She had an expression of real concern on her face. "Penny for your thoughts," I said silently to myself as I averted my eyes to allow her all the looking her heart desired. In all honesty, her reaction was far from unusual. A car horn blared and got my attention. As I looked in the direction of the sound, a male driver gave a big "thumbs up" and nodded. He had a rather serous look on his face. "He gets it," I thought to myself.
Guests arrived and left throughout the day so the photos from the day show some overlap, with some guests appearing in more than one photo. We had at least 20 people present at one time and probably 40 to 50 people who came and went throughout the course of the day. Most arrived after 11:00 A.M. No doubt, they had a more sleep-filled morning than I did, but they also missed the satisfying experiences I was having.
One not so satisfying experience came when one Dad told us a story about a paralegal, who was supposed to be at our rally today, but didn't show. He left some flyers from her on one of the tables and said, "She had a very rough week this week, two of the guys in her group committed suicide." I was saddened, but not surprised to hear the news. In fact, we hear that all too often. I think we'll make that "BEATDEAD DAD GRAVEYARD" a regular fixture of our monthly rallies.
This past month, I began compiling a notebook with statistics and news stories for people who have questions, as well as "critics" who just want to dismiss our valid claims. A number of people commented that we'd made a good start at publicly enumerating our grievances and presenting possible solutions. Others commented that while the task was well begun, we had tons of work to do before satisfactory resolutions would ever be firmly in hand. It appears to me, both are correct in their observations and that we will need to begin planning for a late September event in the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park as soon as tomorrow. We hope to see even more new friends then.
amfortas said,
August 26, 2007 at 7:52 pm