PROTESTORS :: RATED R

So this is the beginning of my 30 Days of Blogging and some may say that I’m starting it off on a downer note. I would disagree. Read on, and you’ll see why I say that. Let me first start off with a warning:

***THIS POST CONTAINS IMAGES THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO MANY***

If you are an avid follower of the news like myself, then you know that this past week there was a Topeka, Kansas based group from Westboro Baptist Church here in San Diego. They were protesting at 29 locations in four days throughout our city. One of those locations was Rancho Bernardo High School, just up the street from me. Being constantly curious, I had to go see and of course, bring my camera with me.

When I first arrived at around 7:00am, there were only three protestors, but their message rang much louder than that of three. The signs that they held were of hate and destruction. Not just hate towards one group, but hate towards many groups. Gays, Jews, U.S. soldiers, and President Obama were their main targets at this protest, but throughout their history Westboro Baptist has been known to spread hate for mostly every people group except their own.

Within 15 minutes of my arrival, students began pouring past the group on their way to morning classes. Most students simply ignored the infamous group and kept walking, some shouted out obscenities as they passed, and many did something greater. They stood with the counter protestors quietly, behind signs that read “God is Love” and “We Don’t Hate”.

What at first was a handful of counter protestors, began to grow into a large group that were there to spread another message. One of love and compassion.

Local news channel 10 was on hand to capture the protest and counter protest, collecting interviews from students and parents of students. Here, Pamela Martin is interviewed with her daughter on why they came with signs that read “God is Love”.

Definitely the hardest thing to see though, were the children that the protestors had with them. This girl, with her father, is a mere 5 years old. When I saw such a young child holding a “God Hates Jews” sign I was struck by some serious emotion. I wanted to save this girl, or yell at the father. Maybe if there weren’t so many police officers there, just punch him right in the face. What a beautiful young child, and he spreads his hate to her. Lovingly and naively, she follows her father’s lead. A lead that he should be using to teach her about love, compassion, and grace.

This next image reminds me of an amazing quote by Louis Pasteur. He said, “When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become.” When I looked at this girl, I could see such potential to be an incredible woman, but also the tragic path to womanhood that she will most likely be led down by a family of hate.

Of course, there were plenty of interactions like this one of a student questioning a protestor. No interaction that I witnessed had much logic or real debate though. Just one passionate side spurting out their opinion, then the other side spurting out theirs.

Then something hit me that put a smile back on my face for the rest of the time. These people are merely a representation of how great this country that we live in truly is. How beautiful is it that in America we can have our opinions, however crazy or horrendous they may be, and not be persecuted for them. That we can practice religion freely, speak freely, and live free because of all the men and women before us that fought for those rights.

When you look at these people, the first thing that you may see is a red anger. What I would encourage though, is that when you see people that think differently than you, or when you see people that come against your beliefs, don’t see red. Instead, see all three colors of our flag; Red, White, and Blue. Because many lives have been paid under that flag for the freedoms that we are all now entitled to. Even the people from Westboro Baptist Church.

I’ll leave you with a great thinker quote from Ghandi.

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.”

~Mahatma Gandhi

See you all tomorrow for Day 2 of my 30 Days of Bloggin!