Changing More Than The World
By Granny Patricia Lay-Dorsey, Detroit, MI

Autumn 2002 was a time of highs and lows for Americans who loved their country but were appalled by what their unelected president had done, was doing and was proposing to do in their names. The highs came when we gathered together on the streets, in meeting halls, living rooms, union halls, on university campuses, and online. The lows assailed us when we read, saw or heard news reports--both mainstream and alternative--of the latest in the Bush administration's ongoing assaults on diplomatic solutions to the world's problems, international treaties and alliances, our civil liberties, the environment, immigrants, the working poor, and the already-suffering people in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

On October 26 I was in the Washington, DC area visiting my elderly Mom whose fragile health was rapidly deteriorating. That Saturday morning, with her blessing, I took the Metro into town to join my sisters and brothers at A.N.S.W.E.R.'s huge rally and march against Bush's headlong rush to destroy Iraq once and for all. As I wheeled my disabled scooter onto Constitution Avenue, I met Cynthia, a symphony director from Colorado, and we decided to form our own two-woman affinity group for the rest of the day.

As we approached the Vietnam War Memorial on that sunny Autumn morning, we saw spread out before us thousands of colorful signs, drummers, dancers, families, anarchists, elders, middle Americans, students holding banners with their university's name on them, folks from many different countries, tables full of literature, and a group of older women wearing outrageously-decorated hats, aprons and shawls who were singing songs that had a real punch to them. It was the Raging Grannies from Rochester, NY.

Cynthia and I stayed and listened until the Grannies decided to take a break. Now, mind you, they were not onstage, but simply holding court on the grass. I'd guess at least eighty people surrounded them as they sang. While the Grannies reached for their water bottles, I scooted up to their leader to find out more about them and to tell them how much I appreciated what they were doing. Granny Vicki in turn asked me some questions, one of which was where did I live? When I said Detroit, she called a Granny over to meet me. Granny Kathy's first words to me were, "I'm from Detroit too. Do you want to help me start a Raging Grannies group there?" I answered "Yes!" without even thinking twice.

Three weeks later, fifteen feisty women-of-age gathered at my home and the Raging Grannies Without Borders of Detroit and Windsor, ONT was born. Since that time our numbers have grown and we have sung at dozens of anti-war rallies and marches in Canada and the U.S., three university and high school teach-ins, in front of the INS building countless times to decry the special registrations, unjust detentions and deportations of our Muslim sisters and brothers of Arab and South Asian descent, at meetings of peace groups, in front of JC Penney's to protest the sale of atrocious war toys at Christmas, in a convention hall lobby where the Detroit Boat Show was being held, at solidarity and educational forums in Dearborn (home to many Arab-American immigrant families), at several protests against the Detroit Water Board's water shut-offs to 40,000 Detroit homes, at a Detroit street fair where we conducted an 8-hour sing-along at our table, and more. Our Raging Grannies songbook that had seven songs to start, now has close to sixty, thanks to the creativity of our Raging Grannies sisters here in Detroit and across Canada and the US.

So my advice to folks who choose to attend a peace rally/march is to be ready to change not only the world but yourself as well.

To prepare yourself to change and be changed, it helps to:

1) Stay informed.
2) Find others who share your views.
3) Risk doing something you've never done before, whether it be joining a demonstration, attending a meeting of like-minded folks, or saying yes to an unexpected invitation to become an organizer.
4) Bring your creative passion to the work at hand.
5) Keep your sense of humor.
6) If you find yourself overcome by hostility and despair, find another way to work for change, preferably one that gives you life and energy.

Bio: Granny Patricia Lay-Dorsey is a longtime activist, writer, artist and group facilitator who has lived both in the Detroit and the Bay area. Her commitment to peace through dialogue includes keeping a daily online journal at http://www.windchimewalker.com