That was my question today as I exited my dining hall and walked out into a warm and sunny day on Tremont Street in Boston, to agree or not to agree. Looking around on my walk to the dining hall early I noticed that there were more people than usual walking around the street, particularly on the side of the Boston Common, but feeling the warmth of the suns rays on this Saturday afternoon I attributed it as nothing more that just a nice day in mid October. It wasn’t until I had finished with my lunch and returned to the street that I noticed the police motorcycles and the massive groups of people in the distance waving flags or holding signs and chanting their slogans.
Admittedly this past week I have not gotten around to watching the news so I was uncertain of what this protest or march was and I was most certainly going to watch and find out. The first marchers came closer, carrying a banner that I believe said “veterans for peace” and it appeared for a moment to be a veteran’s march against the wars, and momentarily my curiosity had been resolved.
Not long had passed, however, before that group with their cause had passed and a different chant could be heard as signs speaking of the 99th percentile could be seen being help proudly above marcher’s heads. I quickly recognized the slogan from the Occupy Wall Street protest, or more accurately Occupy Boston in this case. This new group of people with different slogans and signs seemed to be a part of this march for a completely different reason than that of the first group. Although his group may agree with the end to the wars, it was that this was not their primary cause.
By this point I had become a fixed spectator of the march, still attempting to decipher what exactly its cause was.
Those participating marched on and with each passing group different chants could be heard, different signs to be displayed. As the arch progressed and I stood on the corner I noticed that causes were getting more and more mixed. There would be one protestor waving a flag with peace proudly displayed on it, and on the right another protestor carrying a sign attacking corporate greed. There was even one man, seemingly alone, who carried a sign attacking the media with a message that I interpreted as calling some media opinionated, telling you what you should think and not just the facts.
As I stood on that corner and read those signs and listened to what these people had to say, I found that I agreed with some things but there were others that I did not. It was this split of my opinions that raised the question, if I were to march with these protestors what would I be marching for?
My first thought was that of compromise. Though all of the protestors had different causes, was it just a thought that something has to change that brought them together? Was it that these people would be able to take a part of each cause in whatever grand solution they were marching for?
My next thought however was that perhaps these protestors were so focused in their own cause that when they all united what they were marching for was more along the lines of anarchy. The idea that they should all be given exactly what they want and no longer want others making any decision for them.
Standing there I asked myself these questions as well as the main one, should I agree or not agree? That is my question, if I joined them would I be supporting all ideas, or just the ones I agreed with or would I just be recognizing that we are all entitled to our beliefs and simply deserve the right to be heard and respected.
In the end I did not join them. Even though I saw some causes I could agree with, I did not know exactly what I would be marching for, or what I would be marching towards, or even if my opinion would be heard in the noise of everyone trying to make their cause the loudest and most prevalent.
That is when I realized that what I wanted to march for. The cause I wanted to promote was this; that we all respect one another, and the opinions that we hold and that we keep an open mind and are willing to entertain other arguments and beliefs of others so that we may find common ground, and a place that we agree.
