We marched today and there was a difference. Change was in the air. That was it. It hit me with a sublime calmness. Held high above the signs, our flag made me feel innately proud.

Today, the crowd, the cause and the unity was represented well by the Stars and Stripes. Our local youth gave urgent speeches. We saw a future well in hand, while marchers by the tens of thousands rained down rewarding cheers.

I’m glad that I’m alive to see this day! My eyes aren’t prone to over-watering. But today was a welcome test of that condition.

The “generation that will be great” leads us to a safer future. Finally, security from gun play. The Wild West is laid to rest, no longer twisting in the wind like the stilted history it was. What grand charter will they design next? Now that they need not tackle gun men, the universe belongs to them.

Politicians pay attention. Babes in arms no more. They’ve grown. You’ve forced them into the lead, and now they’re quite disarming.

Good reasons for more marches! But do not whisper about a march or a protest here! Not unless you are ready for the care-filled masses to crush the downtown pavement. This city turns out.

Signs and chants, families and communities, marching stomping smiling mobs of partisans for peace and safety. Portland, Oregon will bring it.

A chant for our schools was like a drum-beat, “Funds not guns! Funds not guns!”

A flag of old colors seemed new. The wind has changed.