Day of Action - Thomas G. It was a hot Monday morning and I was quietly swearing under my breath for not leaving earlier. I got off the toll road and drove onto 95th street in Chicago. I had never been on that road and I was not sure how the rush hour would affect my drive. On any ordinary day the Chicago rush hour can be unpredictable, but this was not any ordinary day; That morning I was going to Washington D.C. to talk to my congressmen. I was already at a heightened state of excitement since the night before, when I received the phone call from the ACLU representative telling me that there was room on the bus going to Washington for a “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice.” I did not want to think about missing the bus. Fortunately I arrived with time to spare. The folks on the Iowa/Illinois bus were from all walks of life; there were college students, a business consultant, retired teachers, Mexican American war veterans, and several retirees. We were pretty ordinary citizens hoping to make a difference, hoping to have our congressmen restore basic rights such as habeas corpus and hoping to eliminate the heinous treatment of noncombatant suspects. It was sad to realize that we actually had to pressure our congress to “reestablish” the rights so many had died to give us. The group’s excitement, determination, and need for justice reminded me of the movie “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.” We were sort of a bus load of “Mr. Smiths” going to our nation's capitol with the same idealistic desires for a free and democratic nation that the character Jimmy Stewart espoused in the movie. But, this group also knew that we were up against a very powerful and dishonest administration bent on abusing our nations laws as they saw fit. After we finally reached our hotel in Washington we left our bus and got a few hours of sleep. The next morning was very hot and humid as well, but it didn't keep us from attending the ACLU rally in the park and afterwards, the Illinois contingent went to the Senate Hart building and piled into Senator Obama’s office where we met with his legislative counsel. Afterwards. we met with Senator Durbin’s legislative counsel as well. Both meetings were cordial, and both counselors stated that their senators supported the restoration of habeas corpus and had specific plans supporting our position which they planned to enact after the July 4th break. They both also espoused the closing of Guantanamo and stopping the extraordinary rendition of suspects. As I wandered around I was gladdened to see so many ACLU-shirted Americans sitting in congressmen’s offices and walking the halls of the Senate buildings. The scene outside was just as impressive as a sea of people in those same white ACLU T-shirts roamed the streets of the capital in one day of intense activism. I was still excited at the end of the day during the long hot bus ride home. I felt proud that I, along with thousands of other ACLU members, was able to petition our representatives directly and that I was noticed. We made an impression. Hopefully, our Congress took note of our efforts and realized that we are watching and we are not shy. We drove through the night until we finally arrived at our drop off in Chicago where we said our goodbyes to each other. I met some very interesting people on this trip and I hope to meet them again. And despite the inconvenience of sitting for 15 hours in a warm bus I would do it all again in a heartbeat, because although I am only one person, I feel obliged to do what I can, to fight for our rights.