Editor,
On Jan. 21, I heard from dozens of friends and family members in states around the country, people whom I respect and love, from their late 70s to my 3-year-old grandson, about a march to demand respect for women, respect for health care, respect for our marginalized neighbors and respect for our planet.
I read their posts and looked at pictures and videos of a joyful day in which, yes, they rebuked a man who had bragged about sexually assaulting women. They rebuked him by wearing symbolic pink hats. They shared their pink hats with police officers who posed for pictures in pink hats and silly grins.
Their marches all over the land were peaceful and happy; the pussyhats were symbols of solidarity and unity and hope. And your article last Wednesday not only reflected all this good stuff, it did a wonderful job of documenting the experiences of our Whidbey neighbors who participated.
Yet many comments on Whidbey News-Times’ facebook page referred to the event with words such as “hateful,” “vulgar,” “violent,” “kooks,” “clowns,” “whacko,” “disgusting” and “sexist.”
What march did they go to? Certainly not the one my friends and family attended, in which News-Times reported “No violence, incidents or arrests were reported by Seattle police, or at any other cities where ‘sister’ marches took place.”
We need to listen to each other, respect and try to understand each other.
Just a suggestion, but if you think the marchers were misguided, evil, or hateful, maybe you sit down for a cup of coffee with one of your friends who attended. You know you have those friends.
Listen. Learn.
If you marched, and you think Trump is evil, can’t you put your pussyhat in the dresser drawer for the morning and invite your Trump-voter neighbor over for a piece of pie? The neighbor you used to talk to every day before last year’s campaign? Who knows, maybe you’ll at least mend fences.
Nobody has to give up or give in. We can all keep working for what we think is right, but we can at least learn to respect our neighbors who disagree with us. Whichever side we think we’re on, we’re all on the same side.
Bill Walker
Oak Harbor
