Old Girl Gets Her Feelings Hurt but Bounces Back with a Vengeance

Yesterday, when I was holding a sign that said, “Free Speech is All-American” and waving at passing traffic, at least four older guys – Boomers – gave me the finger.

And I thought, how can you give the finger to an old lady celebrating freedom of speech? I was standing next to a wonderful lady who raises Monarch butterflies (for real). She wore Monarch butterfly leggings, t-shirt, and hat, along with the most beautiful Monarch butterfly wing earrings. Her sign said, “Democracy Needs Your Courage.”

We’ve been sort of sign holding buddies for a bit. She was with me last spring when the crazy lady pulled up, got out of her car, and spit on me. So, we have that very weird, shared experience. Anyway, she saw the guys giving me/us the finger and at least one or two who shouted unpleasantries (putting it nicely). We shrugged it off. There were plenty of enthusiastic honking, thumbs up, waving. My favorite were County bus drivers who peeled through their left turns and then leaned on their horns for us.

Still, I am stuck on those old guys and their middle fingers.

The guys who stared straight ahead or gunned it to get through the intersection, they were fine. The guys who did a thumbs down, also okay. Don’t agree with me? That’s fine.

But the middle finger? That’s fuck you. That is, as I like to say, a horse of a different color.

Of course, a Boomer would also say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But I’m going back next Saturday with the same sign or a different one – I bought big new markers, don’t you know – and I’ll keep waving at everybody including the old guys with their middle fingers because, as I like to say, fuck that shit.