It was beyond exciting to see that the Pussyhat Project succeeded exactly like the wild dream of its creators--a sea of pink not only in Washington, but nearly everywhere in the nation and abroad that people gathered in the name of tolerance, inclusion, and human rights. The hats were a wonderful symbol of our reasons for being there--handmade, very individual, and yet expressing the same theme. It made me so proud to be a participant.
When I sent hats to Washington, I included a tag with information the wearers could use to communicate with me. I got lovely responses that included pictures. Here are a few:
And then there was this family who got two of their four hats from me:
Closer to home, there were friends who made and wore their own hats:
And friends and family near and far who got their hats from my pile:
As wonderful as it was to physically be a part of such a (dare I say?) huge event, we would be kidding ourselves if we thought that our mere presence would budge the incoming program. Next comes the hard graft of working to minimize the damage being done, and to make this aberration in the arc of progress as short as possible.
None of us can do it all, but all of us can do something. Find a place to invest your effort, find others to help, and never let up. There will be causes that need your time and money, lawsuits to file, candidates at all levels to support, representatives now in place who need their feet held to the fire. One easy place to start is the 10 Actions in 100 Days, an immediate offshoot of the march. Or contact organizations like National Immigration Project, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU. The pussyhat is now a thinking cap and a warrior's helmet!
