No Kings ~ Choose Democracy

No Kings Day, 2025:

Why is this day different from any other day? Because today I woke up with a memory etched across my heart. 1978. I am 16 years old, boarding a 747 red eye flight from San Francisco to Boston. The flight attendant stops me, "I can't let you on barefoot, where are your shoes?" Much to her dismay I didn't own shoes, my hippie feet were calloused and free. Thankfully, I had clean socks in a pocket and that was good enough to get me on the plane. "Sit anywhere," she said. A full 747 carries more than 350 people. Economy class has three rows of seats, 4 in the center aisle and 3 to each side, plenty of room to stretch out in. This night there were just two passengers and like cool kids and smokers everywhere, we gravitated to the back of the plane. Besides having no shoes I had no cigarettes so I made a reconnaissance mission to the bathroom to assess the situation. My companion made no eye contact as I passed by, maybe because my shoeless 'uniform' was so very different from his military fatigues. On the way back I startled him by asking to bum a smoke. We talked and smoked and found common ground. He was a recently decommissioned Green Beret heading home. There was no vocabulary then for PTSD, I still remember his shaking hands and the pain flashing in his eyes. Spin forward, and on Veterans Day, on Memorial Day, and now on No Kings Day, his story and mine flow together again for a while. I was raised by anti-fascist peaceniks and pacifists. When I raise my fist high for a free America (not a cruel America!) the pain and patriotism of a Green Beret whose name I cannot remember abides with me. His boots, my bare feet, an empty plane and a second pack of cigarettes. His beret resting on the seat between us. I'm an old hippie now, he would be close to 80. No Kings is still our common ground. Some may think its disrespectful of veterans that I've placed a military hat here, others may think its disrespectful of peace. Be offended if that helps you get through the day. The beret is here because of the men and women who sacrificed for the ideal of democracy and free speech. Our nation faces an existential threat, and I'd wager that between trump, putin, and netanyahu the whole planet is in a pickle. We are going to have to fight for our freedoms, for an inclusive woke world of justice and equality with enough food, health care, and voting rights for all. Maybe that ship has sailed, I dunno. But for every Veteran out there today waving a flag and raising a fist for our country, thank you. And for active duty personnel who are being ordered to turn against fellow Americans, YOU HAVE A CHOICE! Put down your gun and your tear gas canister! Take a knee for democracy.