I was watching Michelle Obama’s eloquent speech at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. It was a great and powerful speech I hope everyone gets a chance to view it. The one line that stuck in my brain was actually just two words, “Do Something”. How many of us actually do something? That is why I started this blog is because I wanted to do something. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore as I see our great country that was built on the sweat and blood of those that came before us destroyed. I started blogging September of 2020 as a way to stand up against the danger that Trump was leading against our democracy and the people that make up this diverse nation. This blog was my attempt to “Do Something” and I am still doing it.

Last week I was at a reception and at such events it is always great catching up with friends and family that I hadn’t seen for years. There was one person there that pulled me aside to tell me about a situation that she had gotten herself into. First, I have to tell you that this woman is one of the kindest, gentlest persons that I have the privilege to know. She is a 75 year old wife, mother, and grandmother, a devote Christian and I also feel she is a very patriotic individual. She isn’t very tall, maybe 5 feet in heels but has one of the kindest faces you will ever see. In March of 2023 she was watching the TV just horrified by the school shooting in Nashville Tennessee. Six people had been shot dead, three children and three adults. This friend of mine thought she had to do something so she got a piece of poster board and a black magic marker and made a sign asking to ban Assault Weapons. She didn’t rally any troops to help her. All by herself she took her homemade sign and went to the town square and just held up her sign. She wasn’t yelling or anything she just stood there silently and held her sign asking to ban Assault Weapons.

A small petite seventy five year old grandmother holding a sign asking that we ban Assault Weapons must be a pretty intimidating sight.  After a while a couple of pickup trucks came to with men wielding their Assault Rifles. They were laughing at this women and they even pointed a rifle at her. She held her ground holding her sign and said that she wasn’t scared. The police came and they said the men had every right to counter protest. Now, I don’t consider what those men were doing was a counter protest. If they wanted to counter protest they could have gotten some poster board and a black magic marker and made their own sign. They showed up with their guns in an attempt to intimidate and frighten a seventy five year old grandmother. Did her little sign frighten them so much that they had to point a gun at her? Pointing a gun at someone is not a counter protest. It is a threat. It is intimidation. The police should have done something but of course they didn’t. For some reason the police support the guns that people use to kill other people, our children, and also the police. When that “protector” of the Second Amendment pointed that gun at that 75 year old Grandmother it was not for personal protection. It was to intimidate and strike fear in her and other people by making that person fear for her life. She did not fear for her life and stood her ground.

While my friend standing all by herself and holding her sign asking to ban Assault weapons a Black woman approached her and asked if she was ok. The woman said that she was just driving through town and wanted to help. The woman asked if she would like to have someone stand with her so she felt safer. My friend stated that she was ok but thanked the woman for her support. I find it very refreshing that a stranger no matter what color would stop and offer help to a person that only wanted to stop the shooting of our children. After a while she left and my friend continued to stand with her homemade sign doing what she thought was necessary for the protection on all of our children. It doesn’t take a brave person to wave an Assault Rifle in the face of a 75 year old grandmother. What takes is bravery by standing there with her sign and not backing down while that gun is being waved in your face and also seeing another offering to help like that Black stranger did. That is what I think true American Spirit is and has been from the very beginning, one person not backing down from those that would want to suppress your right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. That 75 year old Grandmother is what America is about.

I normally don’t watch the conventions but I have been watching the Democratic National Convention. Many of the speeches have really impressed me but the one given by Michele Obama impressed me the most. At one part during her speech she said the phrase “Do Something”. That is why I started writing this blog, because I couldn’t sit on the sideline while I watched our Republic get destroyed by the Republican Party. But when Michele Obama said “Do Something” I immediately thought of my friend standing in that town square with her homemade sign. I thought about a gun being pointed at her and her holding her ground not letting the fear that those men tried to instill dictate what she would do. To me that is not only a Great Woman, but she is also a Great American that loves her country and just wants it to be the best that it can be for not just her but for everyone.

I have a new hero. It is a 75 year old Grandmother holding a sign to ban Assault Weapons while those with the weapons are trying intimidating and suppressing her right of free speech.  I have watch a lot of great Americans on TV talking at the Democratic Convention but none are any greater than that 75 year old grandmother standing up for the lives of our school children. Yes! She “Did Something”.