In my more cynical moments, I wonder how much difference it really makes to stand by the side of the road holding out a sign advocating peace, or honking as I drive by similar demonstrator. I wonder how much difference all the time and effort that Kim and I, and so many of our friends put in on Ned Lamont’s campaign. I wonder how Ned feels about all the time and effort he put in.

Then, I remember Robert Kennedy’s famous quote:

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance

That sort of sums up my reaction to Corey Boutilier’s documentary ‘Honk for Peace’ which Kim and I saw a rough cut of last night.

The film starts off with footage of various demonstrations in New York City. It has clips from various people that had been working for peace long before Ned entered the U.S. Senate race. It focuses primarily on the anti-war component of Ned’s message. During the campaign, one of our goals was to get people to recognize other parts of Ned’s message besides the anti-war part, but since that is what most people focused on, it ended up being perhaps one of the most important parts of his legacy.

The film also explores some of the important aspects of campaigns that people too often overlook. We all show up at rallies for candidates that we support, but we rarely think about the importance of all the work done to set up the rally, whether it is making sure that the banners are up, the seats are set, the press knows where to go, or simply that the right songs are playing. It comes back to the theme of ‘Honk for Peace’. Each of us does what we can to bring a message of peace, each of our actions adds another ripple of hope, and it great to see some of the behind the scenes people get recognized for the work they did.

Corey has just started showing around parts of the documentary and gathering feedback. He hopes to have the film out at one festival or another, perhaps as early as this fall. I sure hope so. I think it is an important film that all of us who will be working for peace in the 2008 elections need to see.