Volume 20, Number 41 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | October 6 – 12, 2010
They might not be fast, but they’re passionate
Approximately 75 very senior seniors, average age 88, residing in the Battery Park City Hallmark senior residence, protested the Afghan war last Saturday in the park adjoining their building on North End Avenue.
In wheelchairs and clutching canes and walkers, the elderly protesters circled the park several times for an hour until their legs gave out, chanting anti-war slogans and carrying colorful signs.
Said 94-year-old Harold Hirschlag, a principal organizer of the rally, “I’m absolutely thrilled with the turnout. Ninety percent of these people have never demonstrated before. That shows how strongly they feel about these wars. We are using money which would be far better used for much-needed health care, jobs, and other urgent needs.”
Retired clinical psychologist Myron Berrick, 88, and WWII veteran, said, “We veterans of WWII know what war is all about and want this one in Afghanistan over as quickly as possible. WWII was a necessary war, but all those since have not been. War is about the stupidest activity human beings get themselves into. Afghanistan has never been conquered, has never accepted outside influence, so we are wasting time, money and precious lives.”
— Joan Wile
