What Really Counts?

This weekend is a large anti-war march in DC. I'm honestly not sure if I'm going. I have a lunch date with a friend who recently got out of the hospital and later, I'm hosting a Pride and Prejudice party. Does this mean that I care less about the war in Iraq ending? Does it mean that I am all talk and no action? Or does it mean that protests aren't the only form of political expression anymore? Does a person's blog count as much as a hundred marchers? I don't know, but I know that I honestly feel a bit like a schlub, living here in the nation's capital, in the shadow of the Capitol, and only going to a couple of protests a year. Shouldn't I be making hand-made signs and making up new protests songs weekly? Sure my job is activist related and I keep apprised of the news... I subscribe to Mother Jones and give money to Planned Parenthood. But with the current administration, is that enough? Or is this that moment in history where those who are doing shape the future and those who sat back passively benefit from it, never understanding the enormity of it all until it's too late? I've been reentering the world after about a year of hermithood, joining a volunteer orchestra and socializing more... but I feel like it's time to be more of a true activist. Activism used to be a large part of my life but has become more of something that happens to me, ending up on the steps of the Supreme Court because I was at work that day.

Anyhow, I am fully committed to volunteering more this year. Sure it's partly driven by guilt about being a huge liberal slug... But, I guess if you can't keep a lunch date you've been promising for weeks with a friend who has cancer, you aren't much help to the world anyhow, right? Right? Right?

We'll see...