Monday I was at the re-opening of a library in town. It had been closed for over a year for renovations. I liked the place a lot: It was big, it has a coffeeshop (or at least it had), and the computers are always new and fast. I would go out of my way to surf there, and I have.
There was a speech before the official ribbon-cutting that heralded the "official" opening of the library that evening, even though I think you could've walked around way before then, if all the people hanging out with their laptops after the speech was over were any indication.
But back to the grand opening speech. It was meant to be a short one, and it was going apace, with one speaker handing off to another. But just as that handoff took place, one where a county commissioner was going to speak, a man in a wheelchair confronted her with a question. About what I'm not quite sure. But he asked about the number of employees at the library who are in chairs. After some back-and-forth, he accused her of, I think, workplace discrimination against those who are disabled. And he got extremely angry; he ended his diatribe by spinning around and telling the crowd about how things aren't quite as they seem behind "the glass," ostensibly meaning what happens in the business end of the library. He was done; he may have stormed out, I don't know.
Look -- nominally I agree with someone who, after the speeches were done, shrugged and said, "Free speech." And maybe there is something to what he said. But I've got to be selfish here and admit that after his stunt/protest, I looked down and felt extremely ... embarrassed. Not for him, but for myself. While protests are supposed to be effective when they are not convenient for people seen as privileged, all I could think about was how that guy ruined the moment. I felt so ... awkward ... no, scared that I just stayed in place while everyone walked out to see the ribbon-cutting.
This shows me that, as much as I like to argue, I hate confrontation, and I will do most anything to avoid it.
No comments:
Post a Comment