Rallying to Restore Sanity: My Personal Take aways

I am proud to say that Karim and I woke up at 4:27 a.m. (we were actually supposed to be up at 3:30 a.m., but I messed up with the alarm), brushed our teeth,  got dressed quickly, and hit the road for Washington D.C to be apart of the Stewart/Colbert Rallies to Restore Sanity/Fear.

We made pretty good time and didn't hit traffic until we were in Baltimore, Maryland on route 295 going into to D.C. When were arrived in our nation's capitol, www.clubquarters.com/loc_washingtonDC.aspx

we checked into Club Quarters, and then met up with Gorman, a friend of Karim's who also was looking forward to attending the rally.

It was a great day for a rally. The tempature was on the warm side for the end of October. When we hit the mall and saw hundreds of people heading toward the front of the mall where the stage was set up, I was taken back. The John Stewart show demo tends to be geared toward males, ages 18 to 35, but what I found at the rally was people of all ages, ethnicities, and religions in attendance. I also have to mention that the rally was family friendly. Lots of people brought there kids with them which included infants, toddlers, and even a few tweeners and teens. Seeing the families together put a smile on my face.

Karim and I leaving the mall.

I did my best to nudge my way through folks and get as close as I could. I didn't do to bad. Karim and I made it to the media trucks which put us in view of the screens (when I was on my toes). From where we were, we actually had fairly decent sound. It wasn't perfect, but we did get to hear and see most of the show. However, we did lose Gorman in the crowd. Sorry Gorman. It was a tight fit, so if you don't like close quarters, you might have freaked out.

I'm glad Karim and I got as close as we did, because I'm not sure how much of the rally we would have seen or heard if we were any further back. I do wish that more attention would have been paid to the audio/visual needs of the crowd, but from what I've read online, I don't even think the folks who planned the event expected a crowed of 200,000 people.  The event was also put together in less than a month, so when I put that lens on, they did a pretty good job.



Two signs I tried to capture. Not the best photo but you can still read it.



Outside of the rally, I think people were really happy to get together to share their common ground and say, "We are fed up!" While Stewart and Colbert rally didn't talk politics, it was clear that many in the crowd came to share their opinions about the status quo on politics and what they believe is at stake for our nation. Colbert showed a great clip of how our media outlets play into the fear tactics that seem to be entrenched in our politics.

The event wasn't perfect, but not much is in life. I do believe some of the goals of the rally for attendees were met even if they didn't get to hear the whole show. I'm so glad that I was a part of this event. Like Stewart, Colbert, and the thousands of Americans in attendence I want to see sanity restored in our nation's political discourse.  Stewart and Colbert  have illustrated that there are a lot of people across the nation willing to come together and say "We won't be silenced or overlooked."

I thought this signed deserved to be captured.

I know there is going to be a political shake up tomorrow. I won't be happy with the GOP taking back the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, but I also know that there are a lot of voters like me who are watching closely and are ready to rally for change and to restore sanity when it's warranted.