Blog: “This is a Beautiful Thing”

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Those were the words I spoke today at Occupy Philadelphia. As happened last month at the Tar Sands Action, I was overcome with emotion. It feels like these are the most important things I could possibly be doing. Showing up. Writing about it.

Like many of you, I have been “following” Occupy Wall Street. I’ve been wishing I could get up there to experience this movement first hand. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw the announcement that Occupy Philadelphia was starting today.

After I finished my day at work, I walked over to City Hall. I had been reading some of the posts. The Mayor and Police were welcoming the movement. All day I could barely wait until I could leave to walk over.

I arrived at City Hall to music, chanting and horns of passing cars sounding off in support. There were signs everywhere. There was a water station, snack area, family area. There were people speaking, telling their stories, why they were there. Everywhere people with signs, people talking. People ready to be part of the revolution. I was drawn to the group that was listening to speakers and after a while I moved up to speak.

“I was arrested last month at the White House during the Tar Sands Action. We will be back there next month. Thank you for being here, this is a beautiful thing.” It was all I could get out before I choked up. People clapped, and said "thank you" and other words of support. Someone came up to me, wanting to know more about my arrest. We spoke for a few minutes and he wished me well before moving on. “See you in Washington," he said as he walked away.

I listened to several others speak, wandered around the square reading signs, there were “Don’t litter” signs, and two guys picking up litter and cigarette butts. I asked them if the city had agreed to let the protestors sleep there. “Absolutely.”

One speaker suggested that we all sit down and think about what it was that we wanted, what changes, what demands. He said that we needed to be strong and thoughtful, and above all peaceful. Another speaker talked about boycotts, and another about putting our money in credit unions rather than big banks.

The police were lining City Hall, about a dozen that I saw. Most in plain clothes with arm bands identifying them as "police."  It was above all a hopeful crowd. It felt like everyone there was ready to “just shrug."

At the end of "Atlas Shrugged," Dagny Taggert asks John Galt, “We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?” “No we didn’t”. That is how I feel about the “tea” “party”: we don’t have to take them seriously, we have to rise up and allow our intellect, our values to guide us. We have to trust ourselves to know what is right and to act upon it.

We are the 99% and we will no longer accept the burden of the weight of the world. Love her or hate her, vilify or value, I take Ayn Rand’s words to heart:

“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"

"I … don't know. What … could he do? What would you tell him?"

"To shrug."

We are now Atlas. It is time for us to just shrug.