What a difference a year makes!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the protest that wasn't. On March 20, 2008, I went to a protest at EIU (Eastern Illinois University) to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. Well, it wasn't much of a protest. The other people there were not very politically aware. Worse, they were your stereotypical wannabe "activists." For example, everyone was wearing tie-dye T-shirts and basically glorifying every single negative hippie stereotype you can think of. The most upsetting thing of all, however, was the pervasive negative attitude. People kept making jokes about getting busted. Y'know, if you're going to bother to protest, you need to be confident in what you're doing. Not to put myself on a pedestal, but I was pretty much the only one who did or said anything. I read my poem, entitled "Upon the Application of Novel Concepts." It was on that day that I became somewhat disillusioned with what passes for the anti-war movement of my generation. Honestly, I think part of the problem is that there isn't a draft; therefore, none of my fellow "protesters" felt that they really had anything personal at stake. One year later, I've realized that, as Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." I can't let others' negativity and/or apathy get to me. I'm in a much better place now. Of course, the most important thing is that my guy won the election. I know he's talking of going into Afghanistan, but he inherited that problem. Unlike his predecessor, our current commander-in-chief will listen to Congress and the people in regards to this matter. Speaking of which, did y'all see the prez on Leno last night? I wanted to, but I fell asleep before it came on. Oh, well, I guess I can just YouTube it. Anywho, this was historic in that it was the first time a sitting president has appeared on a late-night talk show. And, look, I know he isn't a saint, but Obama is doing his best. Cut him some slack. After all, he's inherited this nation's biggest economic flustercuck, reportedly a bigger one than FDR inherited in regards to the Great Depression and "Hoovervilles." Change will happen, but we must be patient and work with the prez in order to achieve it.
P.S. I'm still working on collecting those body count and wounded figures. I'll get those on here ASAP.