Today I took my children on an extreme field trip. "Where to?" You ask. Why we went to one of our local Tax Day Tea Parties. We are talking citizenship in action. The exercise of "free speech" and "lawful assembly." And Oh the irony that we are studying the Boston Tea Party in our school right now. Yes, I know, there was no tea thrown into a harbor in the middle of North Texas, at least where I was there wasn't. And we weren't protesting taxation without representation, but we were protesting the spending spree our congress has been on since January. I was, and so were several others to whom I talked, also protesting HB 1444 which will form a bipartisan committee to research the feasibility of a "mandatory volunteer" program for all citizens of certain ages (since it also includes Seniors who are retired). Even my 9 year old son said, "Mandatory volunteer? Hey that's an oxymoron!" I wanted to say, "Exactly son. An idea made by a bunch of morons," but being a responsible Mother, and wanting to teach my children a healthy respect for our government, and at that moment not being inclined to kindly explain to him why it was wrong, I simply praised him for his prowess in grammar.
Now, there are some of you who would say, "Are you crazy? You took 5 children to a political rally/protest where there could have been violence?" And I would say to you, "Darn tootin!" You see, here in the great state of Texas, we are charged, as homeschoolers, with a mandate to teach our children citizenship. Well, here you go...Citizenship 101. A government for the people and by the people cannot exist without the people. If all we do is sit around and wait for something to happen, something will happen, but we will have no right to complain about it if we didn't at least make our voices heard. However, because I am a responsible mother I also had an exit strategy. Before we even left the house, I talked to the kids about where we were going, and what was going to happen. I also told them that there would be people there who did not agree with the protest, and that these people could say ugly things to us while we were there, but they probably wouldn't. So, if this happened, then they were not to say anything back, not to respond in any way, and were to stay within arms reach of me. I also told them that if I said "Let's go!" then they were to immediately and as quickly as possible come with me. Then I made sure to position myself where I could get away quickly if at all necessary.
Well, I am glad to say that I did not need my exit strategy. I was also pleased at the atmosphere in and around the rally. One of the speakers mentioned the counter protesters and made it known that they also had a right to make their voices heard, then he made his voice heard. Not only he, but others as well. He even talked about the fact that this protest was not just Republicans, but also Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, and Constitutionalists, and that even though we do not all agree on everything 100% of the time, we can stand together when there is something (insert bill passed in the last 86 days) this heinously wrong going on. " Those with the counter protest that I encountered were as gracious as they could be. They had their signs and literature. We had our signs and literature. And at no time was I harassed. I was offered literature, which I read and promptly put in the recycling bin. It was a good example of how a protest should happen.
My only regret about this day was, that I didn't bring the camera. Mamma's babies at their first protest rally! Awwwwww!
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