Sometimes we think no one can ever see eye to eye with us. Other times, we clearly see the thousands who always do.

Last Saturday was the second anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq. San Francisco was one of many cities worldwide where demonstrations were organized. I made it out last year in New York, and I'm glad to say I made it out again this year with my brother for my first taste of Bay Area civil disobedience.

It was a much different vibe than similar events I've been to in New York. For example, on Saturday I swore I smelled marijuana in the air. Last year in NYC, I could've sworn I smelled tear gas. Seriously, people were very organized, and the police were on good behavior. We didn't have to rough any of them up. They looked like they were having too much fun on there dirtbikes. That's right, dirtbikes, and they seemed much more fun than those vehicles that resemble golf carts that so many NYPD officers use.

I really liked this sign so I waited long enough for the owner to stop waving it to get a shot. I posted a gallery of this and more photos from Saturday here.

I'm not as much of the activist that I wish I were, but events like these matter a great deal. Effectiveness (and deserved attention, unfortunately) is often measured by attendance. I actually felt more compelled to take the drive down highway 101 because of the predicted inclimate weather rather than in spite it. People on the margins can be shied away by the silliest things like a little rain. I guess I didn't want to be marginal last weekend.

And what did the people who came out get in return for staying true? A beautiful, warm, (mostly) rainless afternoon in the city. I hear it rained more in my neighborhood that day, and it got chilly only after we passed the Golden Gate Bridge around 4pm that day. Karma's cool, if you believe that sort if thing.

Even that day, however, I still wasn't much of an activist. No real picketing or chanting for me (or dancing -- those people smell like hippie, but that's another conversation) but more listening and watching as I marched to City Hall with my brother and tens of thousands of strangers, all of whom had something so fundamentalli in common with me: we all knew that this war is wrong, and staying home wouldn't help anything.

In my listening and watching, I hid behind my camera a lot. Nothing fancy, it's a just a consumer grade Sony Cyber-shot, but I think it accomplished the task of capturing the experience. Of what it captured, I thought some was almost decent. Of that bunch, I'm sharing a few that I like here.