DAY 25
October 30
 
On Sunday, we met in a park in Springdale and talked with people. About 50 people showed up to listen and ask questions. The children who attended were the most impressive. They asked insightful questions and seemed genuinely interested in the politics and foreign policy. I want Eliza to grow up like that.
 
This morning, almost everyone we talked with showed up to walk. We started at Sol Foods, a restaurant just south of Zion Park. I don’t like to eat breakfast, but Sol Foods was donating some food and my wife talked me into eating a breakfast burrito. You should really go there and try it for yourself. All I can say is it’s the best breakfast food I’ve had.
 
We had to say goodbye to the elementary school kids that came by. Their parents said it was OK for them to be “tardy for peace.”
 
In Rockville, the middle school kids stopped of at their home school cooperative. One of the mothers who teaches math at the school has a master’s degree in math. She walked across the entire United States for peace in 1983. Then, she and her husband went walking for peace in Russia as well. Suddenly my 500-mile trek didn’t seem so bad.
 
Christopher, from Sweden, was another great surprise in Springdale. He’s working on a master’s degree in California and he hitchhiked over 50 hours to make in time for the walk this morning. He made it just in time. He’s studying sociology and wants to focus on Iraq vets who are protesting the war. Luckily, he has lots of fodder in America today. No one should believe that the majority of Iraq vets like the war. No one who’s paying attention can believe that any more.
 
We got to Virgin, a city that is so conservative that it passed a law to make every adult carry a gun, but nothing much happened. As we came into La Verkin and Hurricane the peace continued. A local woman even joined us. Ruth was quick to mention that she represented no group on the walk, but was a member of the John Birch Society. It was fascinating to talk with a true conservative, not a neo-conservative. We agreed on so much. It made me feel good to know that the left and the right have so much in common and can get along so well. The only problem today is the neo-con group, which takes the worst parts of the left and combines them with the worst parts of the right. Only such a strange mix of ideologies would send us into a foreign war that has no defense value for the American public. In fact, according to our own intelligence agencies, our continued involvement in the war is making our country less safe.
 
I had never imagined that I would find advocates for a responsible withdrawal in such a conservative area, but in the end, most thinking people will be able to agree on facts. The fact is, we don’t have a goal in Iraq. The fact is, we need a plan for withdrawal now.