My Non-March Today (Will Rogers Was Right)

Today was the day for the March For Our Lives, a peaceful protest against our national gun insanity and a call for a sensible gun policy.  It was organized by the wonderful, incredible kids of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.  The main event was in Washington D.C., but there were hundreds of other marches across the country, including one here in Columbus.

Statehouse at 11:00 a.m.

I received an online invitation to attend the Columbus march.  I wanted to show my support for students and teachers and common sense.  My invitation said to be at the Ohio Statehouse at 11:00 this morning.  It was cold and windy but I was there.  So were some other people, but not very many -- maybe 25 or so.  WTF?  Slowly, our numbers grew, perhaps to 100 by noon.  But still, where was everybody?  This was ridiculous.

Bit by bit, we learned that all of us at the Statehouse had been misinformed.  All the marchers and speech-makers and bands were congregated not where we were but at Genoa Park, about half a mile west of the Statehouse.  From there, they would march up to the Statehouse, reassemble there, then march back down to Genoa Park.

We waited.  We heard they would reach us at 12:30.  We waited some more.  It was almost 1:00, still no marchers in sight, and I had been standing around freezing for two hours.  I gave up and went home, thus concluding my non-march.

Meanwhile, at Genoa Park

Eventually the marchers did arrive at the statehouse.  It's been reported that the turnout in Columbus was around 5000 people.  Sorry I missed it.

It's like Will Rogers once said:  "I don't belong to any organized political party.  I'm a Democrat."

Genoa Park

Statehouse, some time after 1:00 p.m.