It was a sad week in Pittsburgh. The court ruling was in, and Occupy was ordered to leave Melon Park. The orderly, respectful, and clean (as possible, considering Pittsburgh’s off and on rainy, sleety days and nights) departure left the square in as clean a state as possible by the group of primarily young supporters. I am left incredibly impressed. The business community? Perhaps not so much, but at least they were not slinging vitriolic comments like some in other cities. The police had been respectful, and the city was supportive throughout.

Pittsburgh is fundamentally a polite city. Are you lost, and slowing traffic as you look for the street sign, to make a turn? Chances are you will not have someone honk at you. More than likely the cars behind you simply slow enough so that you can find your way and navigate the turn without getting too flustered. Same way when you are first at an intersection waiting to make a left turn without the requisite turn signal. Inevitably the oncoming driver will signal you to go ahead. I’m so slow, I took advantage of that kindness for a couple of years, before it occurred to me to do the same whenever I was in that situation.

Maybe you have heard about the city homeowner’s method of holding their parking spot in front of their homes? They simply sit an aluminum lawn chair in the street, and it works! Get lost trying to navigate across a couple of rivers to get from North Hills to South Hills? Chances are good someone will go out of their way to lead the way so you will be sure to get on the right road home.

Pittsburgh is far from perfect. The police brutality toward black residents is well documented. Our local transit board is brain damaged and probably corrupt. The latest scandal is the local non-profit medical center, which has bought up all but a handful of remaining hospitals, and is now refusing to accept any patients with coverage from the largest non-profit health insurer (something like 70% of us!), because the insurer had the audacity to help support one of the remaining hospitals that was in danger of financially closing due to pressure from the medical center.  The medical center is screaming “Unfair competition!,” despite the fact that the medical center has offered its own health plan for 15 to 20 years.

Living here is nothing if not interesting.

The food is good, too. We have such ethnic diversity that the various restaurants can be wonderful, without being prohibitively expensive. In the last 7 years we have had some outstanding European bread artisans plying their craft, and finally we can even find a few good vegetarian offerings (hopefully more soon).  I still keep my fingers crossed for a really good New York diner, and I would trade my third child (if I had one) for a lamb souvlaki, or even a lamb gyro!

Waxing eloquent about Pittsburgh was not the point of this entry.  I really just planned to make a suggestion to all Occupy supporters. Occupy managed to galvanize working Americans the way nothing has in recent times. To help keep this recognition going, especially when there is such opposition to our gathering, I suggest that we fly our US flags upside down as a sign of national distress.

The flags can be flown from car antennae, homes, windows or clothing ~ but the point will be to convey our national commitment to each other and to the idea that something is VERY wrong with our country and needs to change.

I’ve turned mine, and am looking for one for my car.  How about you?