People In Motion

[Disclaimer: we did not take this photo]
While leaving one furniture shop the other day, I noticed traffic was non-existent on what is normally a very busy road. I was pleased, as I needed to cross, and was in too much of a hurry to contemplate my good fortune. But in a few brief moments, it became clear: there was a march heading my way. This was much larger than the student march I described earlier, with participants extending for about half a mile. I couldn’t make out the sign the leaders were holding, nor could I understand the chants as the bullhorns they were using further distorted a language to which my ear is still green. The animated crowd were at the head of the procession, and they drew a crowd of onlookers, including women holding children on balconies and a gaggle of otherwise bored bombaros (firemen). The participants ranged in age from young adults to the middle-aged, and I got the impression that it had something to do with workers rights, as all participants appeared to be blue-collar workers. As the procession continued, the energy levels definitely dissipated. A few younger men with bullhorns were interspersed in the crowd, trying to create some energy, but many of the marchers seemed unmoved to such an extent that they couldn’t muster the steam to wave their red cloths, but instead tied them around their necks or tucked them loosely in their pockets. And I wondered if this lack of enthusiasm, mostly from the older participants, signaled disinterest or apathy bred from a history of unacknowledged alienation.

When my contemplative leering pulled a pair of eyes from the forward progress of the march, I turned to my signature move: I smiled stupidly and waved. But at least I didn’t trip.