The 99% is kicking and screaming.

It seems that winter is reluctant to leave.  Or at least, it's interested in making a statement before it does.  We had beautiful, windless sunshine for six days straight last week but it couldn't stand up to the rain.  The rain is here.

Maybe the weather reminds me a little of the incipient protests on New York's Wall Street and in other US cities.  A little heat comes along to remind folks of their position: they're free, they have voices, they can wear shorts and liberate their legs.  And then the cold front returns, forcing everyone back into their homes to stew miserably in their frustrated efforts to surmount these crazy bad times.  Maybe I see the weather-- so out of my control-- a little like I see the many, many things that stand in the way of making things a little better.  Maybe I'm a cynic.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.  I'm right that the weather will do as it does.  But it's no use feeling powerless against the powers that be.  That, actually, is not beyond my position.  Or your position.  That is actually our obligation.

We have no reason to be ashamed of our naked legs when the sun shines.  And despite major news outlet commenting that the Occupy Wall Street bunch seems somehow disorganized, off-point, dirty, young, aimless or rambling, they're out there and they're trying to make springtime come. 

When I see the thousands of people gathering to stake their claim as the true majority, I cross my fingers that more will join them.  When I see the police lines confronting them, I wonder how long before show of solidarity outweighs the show of force.  (I also say a little prayer that the cops, based on pay scale, might empathize or at least keep their guns holstered.)  There must be a tipping point, when the people realize that the means of control used to silence them are no longer stronger than the force they can exert for themselves.  That said, any tipping point achieved would be but a brief moment in time that sets off its own consequences.  Power shifts quickly and radically and usually remains in the hands of those who know how to juggle it.

That power seems bound by inertia is no reason not to push to reverse its direction.  I hope more people join the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I hope they find a decent set of talking points to appease a media hungry for soundbites over more substantive meals.  But most of all, I hope everyone remains courageous in the face of angry cops threatening force against them.  Standing up to power is the only thing that ever made it change.