I finally have the feeling back in my legs.
On Saturday afternoon I spent six hours standing in a wall-to-wall crowd of over 200,000 of the most reasonable people you’d ever want to meet. And trust me; I had no choice but to meet them. The person next to me was literally inches away. We were packed in there like sardines. At one point I dropped something on the ground and it took me a few seconds to maneuver my body in such a way that I could actually reach down to get it.
Bridget and I arrived almost three hours before the show began, and I had a VIP pass to get backstage, but I couldn’t get near the VIP section through the sea of humanity. That turned out to be a blessing, because the story to me was not what was happening on stage, it was the size and scope and spirit of the crowd.
Some were there to witness a memorable event. Others came to express their political views. Still others just wanted to see a great comedy show. But nearly all of them also came just to prove that they existed. At one point Jon Stewart even admitted that’s all he wanted out of this rally—to show the country that it was OK not to be a screamer—that if you’re sick of the screaming, you’re not alone.
Take it from one of the sardines. You’re not alone.
The signs people were carrying were hilarious (see a few of them below). Despite the really uncomfortable conditions, the attendees were laughing and joking and wisecracking in the crowd all day long. But most importantly, they weren’t bickering. In a sardine can, that’s not easy to do. At one point, a man carrying a baby yelled out that he needed to get out of the crowd to change a diaper, and I’m still not sure how this was possible, but the crowd parted like the Red Sea to form an exit path.
After a relentless barrage of negative radio and television political advertising over the past few months, it was like breathing fresh air. Then again, it might have just been the minty fresh breath of the woman standing two inches away from me.
