Occupy Woodstock

I took this picture a few weeks ago, when I was in downtown Dayton at the theater. Since then, this trio has grown into a larger group that is currently battling with the city council, who wants them to leave Courthouse Square before the tree-lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving.

As you can tell from the title of this post, my sympathies are with the kids hanging out in various city centers around the country. They remind me a lot of my generation when we were youngsters, back when we were still had ideals and weren't forced, by our desire for a comfortable old age, to ignore inconvenient truths.

The Fox News crowd, of course, is screaming bloody murder about them. Even the people who are on their side complain about the lack of a unified message. I, on the other hand, can't help noticing that, cohesive message or no, they got the big banks to roll back a planned $5/month charge for using your debit card. (Thanks, OWS!)

I'm kind of happy that the X-ers, who were content to wait for the world to change, have been succeeded by a more activist bunch. And I'm a little worried, as I watch the clashes with the cops around the country escalate, that they will learn, as we learned, that peaceful activism is no match for an Establishment that is willing to kill to maintain the status quo.

Godspeed, Occupiers.