Pathetic and Powerless…

I witnessed the hate of the Westboro Baptist Church in person today. They came to our small town to “protest” at the funeral of a fallen soldier.

As soon as people heard this group would be coming to spew their hate, facebook lit up with individuals furious that they would show their faces here. My husband, who is not known as a huge activist, got all riled up on Saturday night, angered by the prospect of them sullying the funeral procession with their presence.  He proposed gathering friends to block their vehicles to prevent them from leaving their hotel like we’d read on the internet or devising an alternate way to prevent them from disturbing the grieving family.  I felt disgust well up in me and I worried about what type of disruption they would cause.

This morning, my family drove to the park on the main street in town where the funeral procession would come through later today. People lined the street, holding flags and signs that said things like “God loves sinners” and “Coexist” with peace signs in the letters. I actually had to do a little double take to get a glimpse of the Westboro group. They were most noticeable because yellow tape surrounded their protest site – presumably to both protect their legal rights and to ensure that they didn’t move any closer to the funeral home. In truth, they had much more space than they needed – the group consisted of only about five people holding up crude signs declaring disgusting, hateful lies.

On our way back from the park, we were awed by the increased number of people lining the streets to pay their respects. The Illinois Patriot Guard Riders were also parked by the funeral home – 160 strong.  I noticed that the protesters were gone by this point – and this meant that they were, thankfully, not in place when the actual funeral procession came through.  I felt my heart swell in my chest a bit as an enormous American Flag came into view, waving gloriously above the street, held up by two fire truck ladders.

We arrived home and, as I reflected on all that I saw, I posted the following as my facebook status:
“Witnessed the hate of Westboro Baptist Church today and they looked pathetic and powerless – Around 5 people behind some yellow tape were barely a dot on the Avenue compared to the firetrucks displaying an enormous American flag, people lining the streets to honor a fallen soldier, or individuals holding signs representing the true nature of God.”