Occupy Wall Street v. 40 Days for Life

I hadn't been paying much attention to "Occupy Wall Street," until the night of September 30th, when I came upon a large group of young people near City Hall - the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. I'd just biked over the bridge & was needing to walk because of the crowd. Curious as to what was going on, I asked one young man the reason for the gathering. To the best of my recollection, he responded "The economy and the banks, that sort of thing." The next day, a group of 700 was arrested.

On Saturday the 8th, my wife, son, & I chatted with a group of primarily middle-aged folks, who comprised "Occupy Trenton" (Truth be told, their attire made me think of a cast of Godspell - grown old.). When asked about their agenda, we also found this group to speak in very non-specific terms. However, they did have some written materials, including a complaint about the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act. When I pointed out that this was done under President Clinton, they seemed to be aware of such & insisted that their criticisms were non-partisan (Yet, I have a hard time believing that the OWS crowd has a true understanding of the roles played in our financial troubles by the likes of Clinton & Barney Frank.).

The Trenton OWS group complained repeatedly about the lack of media coverage which they'd gotten. When the Mrs told them about the incredible news blackouts of the March for Life, she did get a respectful response. We didn't bother to mention that we've been part of the 40 Days for Life witness in Trenton - which has received NO media acknowledgement (Laura Ingrahm has noted something similar.).

Around 7 AM on Tuesday the 11th, I walked past Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, where the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd has been camping. I must acknowledge feeling somewhat envious of the gathering, thinking of how difficult it is to get people to publicly pray for an end to abortion. While I really don't understand the poem that it is from, one line from W.B. Yeats came to mind, as I thought of the few at "40 Days for Life" and the vast OWS crowd: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity" (I apologize to well intentioned OWSers, who just don't realize that the bigger social justice issues are so ignored.):