Last week I got to do something I've never done before: wave signs. You cannot believe how much fun it can be! When I originally thought of sign waving, I pictured standing out in the cold for hours while the seconds dragged by as you gripped your brave sign with cold fingers. But this was much better than I would have expected two years ago. Sadly, I missed my first opportunity on Saturday when the whole bibleschool and more went to Keene (I slept in a leetle late that day, heh heh); however my golden chance arrived the following day on Sunday afternoon. Excited, I planned to go with Dad and Craig to Peterborough to wave signs partly because we heard that McCain (!) and Kurt Schilling (!!) were coming!!! So we left a few hours early to offer our support--oh, and Ben and Bobby came along. We passed the one busy intersection in Peterborough (which was crawling with sign wavers and huge inflated puppets, mostly Obama supporters) and decided to plant ourselves on the large island where Rte. 202 meets Rte. 101.
Uncertain but eager to be enthusiastic, I joined my brother and the two bibleschool guys, united in our cause which was displayed proudly by our signs. Have you ever waved signs before? Frankly, I don't think it would be an easy job to do by oneself, but when you're with three other energetic people (two of which happen to be very choleric:), fanaticism is contagious! It wasn't long before we were warmed up to our job, whooping, screaming, jumping, waving, smiling, and "thumbs upping" everyone who passed, delight warming us whenever we saw a fellow McCain supporter, which was not infrequently, though it may have helped that it was the same day as a McCain rally. Occasionally, we ran next to cars as they turned past our island, leaping about and bobbing our signs madly. Ben even held up our "Honk 4 McCain" sign for awhile and it got some happy responses. One guy, laden with signs for the democratic party, passed us a couple of times, but finally shrugged and gave us a honk, probably just to give us credit for our broad smiles and enthusiasm. Another person the guys saw fighting with the driver to honk.
Some of our rallying cries sounded something like this:
"Votes for McCain!"
"Let's have it for McCain!"
"True leadership over charisma!" (that was one of Ben's favorites, and some of us took it up)
"Let's have it for experience!"
"McCain's the man for America!"
"Remember to vote for McCain on November 4th!"
"Vote for McCain--you know you want to!"
And so forth, accompanied by plenty of whoops and screams. Sometimes you never realize how well a guy can scream until you get him going in a political rally; for instance, the week before I was out with the students (we were putting out signs after we participated in the Bible reading marathon in Concord) and somebody passed us with a (hopefully happy) honk, followed by a scream, and I said or at least thought, "That girl likes us!" Then I realized that the scream hadn't issued from a girl, but from Ben!
Sometimes our cries were more improvised, depending on the cars and license plates we saw.
"Massachusetts for McCain!"
"Dogs for McCain!"
"Hey, nice car! Nice cars for McCain!"
"Goats for McCain!" (yep, I really saw a goat:)
"Young people for McCain! Old people for McCain! Everyone for McCain!" (that was Craig's line)
One lady rolled down her window and told us that she was undecided. This was all the chance the guys needed. Immediately they ran closer and started to list all the basic reasons she should vote for McCain. She told them they were very persuasive. They pursued it, listing more reasons, so that finally she announced that she would think about it. That was enough for us, so we all cheered.
Another great thing about sign waving in a smallish town was that I knew some people! It was fun seeing my brothers' old driver's ed teacher, as well as some of Clyde's basketball players; I even saw the mom of one of my violin teacher's pupils.
Once or twice, we even managed to convince somebody! Like the time this girl pulled off the road and came toward us; we started yelling at her to vote for McCain until she finally threw up her hands and told us that we had convinced her. Then she laughed and gave us a sign that said "Live Free Vote McCain" before leaving. It was none other than Andrea. Another time this blonde guy came walking toward us and so we pointed at him with vehemence to vote the right way, but it was only Aaron, so our efforts, however joking, were fruitless, since he was probably going to vote for McCain anyway. Nevertheless, whatever we did must have done something, because this Aaron cousin of mine stuck with us the rest of the day.
Darkness soon crept in after a couple of hours, so we proceeded to the traffic lights where we paused for a few minutes to throw our efforts in with the rest of the bibleschool who had arrived to swell the ranks of sign wavers. As the guys, who as I already told you were yelling plentifully, spread their fanaticism, one little boy with an Obamah sign started to yell back. However, his mother quickly stopped him, saying, "He's making a fool of himself and you're not to be one too!" To this, Ben responded with the cry, "It's okay to be passionate about what you believe in!"
"Your mother would be ashamed of you!" some women yelled at Ben. Ha. "They don't know my mother," he said later. :)
Pretty soon we peeled off and made a dash down the street for where the McCain rally was located. Here there were a bunch of people in line waiting to get in, as well as many Obamah supporters standing around holding signs. We kept ours aloft, though, and with Craig's declaration, "Red Sox fans for McCain!" (he was wearing his hat) we stood our ground.
Very shortly afterward, however, a little boy came up to Craig and said very politely, "Excuse me, I'm a Yankees fan and I'm for McCain so it's not just Red Sox fans for McCain."
"Aw, you're right," Craig answered, touched by this boy's correction. "See, he's a Yankees fan and he's for McCain too!" He said this pointing at Bobby, then repeated more loudly, "Baseball fans for McCain!" After this Bobby revealed his Yankees hat hidden beneath his hood ("Not that I'm ashamed to be a Yankees fan," he had told me earlier, but I agreed that politically it was wiser to keep it hidden while campaigning in New England) and the dad of the little boy wanted to have their picture taken with Bobby and his McCain sign. Then for some reason the dad wanted to take my picture with my sign, perhaps because I had a little American flag tucked behind my ear (who knows?), and he thanked me for the "photo op." Um, sure, no problem! :)
We wandered around for awhile, trying to figure out what direction the McCain bus would come from. In an alley we passed a handful of Obamah supporters, who started screaming for their candidate as soon as they caught sight of our signs. We yelled right back at the same time. The volume contest (who can scream their candidate's name the loudest?) was brief and completely lacking of spite, and it was rather remarkable how such contact, which might normally be unpleasant, was pretty good-natured and almost enjoyable.
Passing a lady during our same wanderings, a lady (and obvious McCain supporter) told us, "They can keep their change, we want to keep our dollars." Hardy har har, way to turn their own slogan back around on them!
After awhile we decided that we wanted to go in past security, so we waited in line for a few minutes. As we did, Bobby, who was complaining vociferously of his thirst (try yelling for a couple of hours and you'll understand), called across the side parking lot to some media guys, asking if they had some water. To our vast amazement and amusement, they said they did, so Bobby ran over to one of the vans parked nearby (the kind with a satellite dish on the roof) and came back with a bottle of water that he shared all around. That's Bobby for ya.
Once past security, we joined the masses of people flooding the remaining length of the street, which was probably about a block or less. We found Andrea (and eventually Gretchen and Aunt Sharon) and stood around waiting for McCain's arrival, which wasn't much later. However, we weren't just wasting time either. Everything has blurred together in my mind now, but I vaguely remember continuing our loud vocal demonstrations of loyalty to McCain, being the loudest group around, waving our flags and signs, and dancing to the music that played over the loudspeaker (don't worry, Andrea got permission from her mother first:). That is, we more just hopped to some of the music as it played; Bobby, who was probably the only one among us who really knew some of the songs being played, joined in singing with some other dudes nearby--all McCain fans. Before long, the bus had arrived, and we waited, breathless, for the famous man to appear. There he was! Everyone jumped up and down screaming, waving signs and flags. This time we weren't the only ones being loud. . . oh, and Bobby got on Ben's shoulders to see better. What's more, McCain actually stood outside and TALKED to us for a few minutes before going inside where the real meeting was! That made us very happy, since the chances of getting inside had been pretty slim. One lady we happened to talk to later said that she had arrived at 11 that morning so that she would be sure to get in, and she did; she even got to ask a question. She also told us that her husband thought she had sounded amazing when she asked it (those are my words, not hers), and she wondered jokingly if she had missed her life's calling.
After seeing the great John McCain and Kurt Schilling, many people left, but some still crowded around the screens set up on the street to show us what was going on inside. By now (it was about 6:30) it was pretty cold; I had long ago regretted leaving my gloves in the car and I tried to keep myself from getting too numb. And it was no wonder, for we found out later that the temperature had dropped from about 43 degrees F at the beginning of our sign waving to about 29 degrees when we left the rally.
Long story short: we came, we saw, we went home. After McCain was done speaking, we hung around, hoping to get a glimpse of him leaving. Now that a lot of people had left we would have been able to be pretty close when he came out. We waited. . . Daddy and Gretchen both got interviewed by somebody from People magazine. . . then the bus pulled away! Alas, John McCain had left by a back entrance, and now it was our turn to leave, a little disappointed. Daddy went home with my mom, who had arrived at the actual rally shortly after we did, but I stuck with Craig and the three bibleschool guys. I was glad I did, because Craig took us to Dunkin Donuts and I was able to thaw out with a cup of white hot chocolate. . . the perfect finish to a great day.
I must say that the whole time t'was a delight--there's something remarkable in being able to share common beliefs and excitement for a cause with friends, even if they're not your best friends or your own age or even if most of them are guys. Still, we were promoting what we believed was right and there was some comradery as a result, even though normally I might have been an outsider. It's really a lot like being a Christian, or what being a Christian should be, so it seems to me. Each of us believers have faith in the same amazing God and ultimately we have the same goal; that should be enough to unify us no matter what our differences are! That may sound easy to say or maybe it sounds wishy washy, but I think it's a neat thought to keep in mind. This day kind of depicted to me what it's like to have a common excitement with other people--shouldn't we be just as excited about God?
Huh. A fan for God. A fanatic fan for God--and haven't I already said that fanaticism is contagious? Just think, if we were all truly fanatic fans for God. . . . . how long would it take the world to catch this contagion too?
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