Thursday Thinking—Tea, Anyone?

This afternoon Calvin and I went to the city park for the Tea Party rally and joined a thousand or so other citizens . I’m so glad we went. We heard the candidates who are opposing our seated senator in the November election. One candidate was a physicist that teaches at the University of Washington, one was a doctor, one was a farmer, one was a businessman, and one was a radio talk show host. They stood on the back of a wooden flat-bed hay trailer and addressed the concerns and interests of us fellow citizens. There were no promises, pledges, or mocking of current leaders. Instead they called for us to come forth and serve in whatever capacity we could to help restore America to its founding values.

One speaker called for our government to live within its means. Another mentioned that if one citizen had paid $1,000,000 each day since the birth of Christ, he would still have to pay $1,000,000 a day for another 32,000 years in order to pay off the 12 trillion dollar deficit we face. I called Ty and asked him if we heard it right. Yup. We did. Whoa. Suddenly I could comprehend 12 trillion dollars. So must this little boy. He carried a sign that said, “I’m only 5 and I’m already in debt.”

One of our fellow ward members came and sat down on the grass by Calvin and me during the speeches. After listening to a few speakers she said, “I’m going to go and offer to sing Amazing Grace.” And she did. (Calvin leaned over to me and whispered, "Now that takes guts." I concurred.) She went and found the organizer of the event and told him she’d like to sing. After the speakers were finished, he turned the microphone over to her and she invited the crowd to sing along. She has a beautiful voice and backed by the crowd it sounded especially good. She took the charge to stand up and serve to heart.

Calvin and I were both really glad we'd gone. It was a great way to spend a tax day. It was a great way to spend any day.