Have you ever been to a protest? I don’t think I ever have, but sometimes I agree with protesters.

Whatever the issue is, there is usually someone to protest, and possibly someone to counter-protest; the other side. This seems to be how we get things done, in modern societies.

In the sixties and seventies, people who looked like hippies protested against “the man.” I am old enough to remember those times.

When I was in high school, a friend told me about a huge protest that was supposed to change everything, but it turned into a joke, with the help of one dog.

It took place in a public park, across the street from the police station. The park is still there, but the police station has been moved. It’s now in a building that looks like a bunker, with no unguarded approaches.

The old Police Station looked more like an office building.

I think the protesters were mostly shouting about the Vietnam War; that’s how old I am. Part of their plan was to occupy the police station. So, the angry mob moved in the direction of the front door of the police station, and things started to get ugly. They might have succeeded, and then I don’t know what the plan was.

The police had a secret weapon; a police dog, just one dog.

As the angry crowd surged to the front door, one officer held the dog’s leash, firmly. From the dog’s perspective, a mob of long-haired people were moving in the dog’s direction, shouting and waving signs. That would scare me and I would probably leave, but the dog was equipped and trained to bark and bite.

When the officer loosened his hold on the leash, the dog would lunge and bark, and the mob would run back across the street. This continued for a while, and then the protesters went home. The truth lost its value when a big dog barked and showed its teeth. Today, probably no one remembers what they were protesting about.

Do you believe in the truth? … any truth?

How do we place that truth into other humans? How do we change the world? What is our reason for protesting?

Climate change protesters are everywhere, and they get some attention. They are working to change the world. Remember, Greta Thunberg addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, and through that audience, she spoke to the whole world:

Recently, the authorities have been arresting and prosecuting climate-change protesters. I think this is a variation on the barking police dog. Protest movements seem to shake the world, and then we turn our attention to something else and forget what those protesters warned us about.

There are some words in the Bible that we should all know: “We persuade men” or the whole quotation in a different translation is “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.” (2 Corinthians 15: 11)

Two thousand years ago, someone took the truth seriously, and they worked to actually change the world. This all began with a carpenter from a small town. He gathered a few followers, and then he was arrested, and executed.

Apparently, he was a complete, insignificant failure. Some followers claimed that he came back from the dead, but they could be persecuted away … maybe.

Today, the followers of that carpenter, Jesus, form the largest community built around an idea, probably in all history, and their numbers keep growing. Experts believe, that Christians now outnumber Communists, in China, for example.

We have one person, in history, who made a difference, and his work continues.

This may be a strange approach to religion, but it convinced me when I was young. I wanted to make a difference, in this world, and I saw my friends making noise; until they got tired and went home.

That noise had no holding power, and a new generation is learning this truth about their noise.

That is not the legacy that I want to leave after me.

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens[b] to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.” (Ecclesiastes 1: 2 to 6)