Occupying a World Gone Mad (and Scarlet)

That's what it feels like these days...that our country has gone crazy. that the whole damned planet's gone a little askew. I don't know that that's a bad thing, really. People are finally fed up enough with the way things have been operating for far too long to actually stand up and say so.

Unfortunately, standing up and saying so comes at a cost...and a painful one.

 This is America in action at the moment.

And this is only one example of the abuse of authority, there are many more out there. I have friends who have been beaten and bloodied by the authorities for no valid reason. 

***Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests.^[1] The right to freedom of association is recognized as a human right, a political freedom and a civil liberty.
Freedom of assembly and freedom of association may be used to distinguish between the freedom to assemble in public places and the freedom of joining an association. Freedom of assembly is often used in the context of the right to protest, while freedom of association is used in the context of labor rights and the Constitution of the United States, is interpreted to mean both the freedom to assemble and the freedom to join an association.^{[2][not in citation given]}
The United States constitution explicitly provides for 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances'" in the First Amendment.***

They say "get a job" and "take a bath, hippie." It's a convenient and easy way to write us off, to belittle us. They say we're looking for a handout, that we don't want to work for anything. That we're mooches or something.

I'm here to say otherwise. Just pulling from the list of people I PERSONALLY know who are involved in the Occupy movement, I can say that there are: Emergency room doctors, university professors, veterans, students, therapists, nurses, my mom,  9-to-5ers, artists, teachers, health-workers, minimum-wagers, above-minimum-wagers.  We bathe. We have families. Those who are lucky have jobs (and homes)...though not all of us do, and that's part of what we're pissed off about.

And NO, we DON'T need to have a list of demands of what we want to see change. Those lists will appear from some parts, surely, because there are those among us inclined to make lists (and that's good)....but they won't speak for the entirety of us. Sometimes, it's enough to just say "I'm over the status-quo" and to voice your displeasure.



Especially when it's said en masse.