A few weeks ago in Northampton, I was out on the lawn with the AEIOUkes, the ukulele group that I play with, serenading the patrons of the Forbes Library annual book sale when the wind that had started blowing a few minutes before turned into rain.
Suddenly, everyone was grabbing instruments and stands and darting indoors, hoping to keep up the music but in a more protected setting.
I was planning to leave early anyway to attend the March for Truth, and the rain just made it easier to pull myself away from the camaraderie and music that is so compelling with this group. As I walked toward the kickoff spot, the sun suddenly made an appearance and I found myself thinking what a lovely surprise, getting to march on a beautiful late spring day instead of doing it while cold and wet.
Seems like since November I’ve been doing a lot of these things. I wouldn’t call myself an activist, but I do stay informed and I do believe that getting my feet on the street to be counted makes a difference.
Back in the ‘60s, I marched against the Vietnam War, even managed to help take over an administration building or two while in college. I’ve marched for and against things ever since then, in the nation’s capital as well as Boston, New York City, and locally. Recently I marched in D.C. with more than 200,000 concerned citizens to support the scientists who say unequivocally that human-caused climate change is real and presents a grave threat to the planet. It was thrilling to be back in D.C. marching with crowds of dedicated people who had put their lives on hold to travel long distances to make sure that their voices are heard.
But, there I was about to march again, though this march wasn’t about stopping a war, or preventing a climate catastrophe, and it wasn’t in defense of minority rights, as important as these issues are. This march was in support of a very simple concept … Truth. And I spell that with a capital “T” deliberately because what I marched for is a concept without which our form of government, our democracy, our very way of life, cannot survive.
Oh, now you’re thinking, she’s gone over the top here, leaping into exaggeration. But if a high-level government spokesperson can rebut facts with the use of something called “alternative facts” and do it with a straight face, then I think you can see my concern.
I reached the gathering place for the march just in time to find my friends and start the slow walk to Pulaski Park where we would finish with a rally. I found myself thinking, as we walked through downtown chanting and waving signs attempting to call attention to the importance of Truth in our lives and in our politics, that this was just crazy. I could hardly believe that this was happening, that I was marching for Truth, of all things, something that should be a given! What in the world has happened to us, that we can’t tell the difference between obvious lies and facts, and that if we don’t like the Truth, actual fact-based Truth, we simply label it “fake news” and that’s that, it’s gone?
And here’s an important thing to note — there was not one negative act or comment from anyone walking or driving past our march. Only honks of support and thumbs up, and I found that quite inspiring in these strange times. Eventually, the march ended at the park where we gathered to hear several speakers urge us to participate in any way we could, to speak Truth to the lies, to push back against the powers that are attempting to alter the facts about so much these days, especially about new policies and laws that will affect nearly every aspect of our lives. If we don’t keep marching for Truth, don’t keep the light of Truth brightly and spectacularly lit, then our way of life will be changing and not for the better.
So, march I do and I will until it looks to me like Truth is back in fashion, that our basic right to safe and affordable health care is guaranteed, that we acknowledge that our planet is in desperate need of our care, that everyone’s civil rights are protected, that war has become a thing of the past, and that equality in all human endeavors has been achieved.
Karen Gardner, of Haydenville, a retired computer programmer, is a bicyclist and nature photographer.