Mid-twentieth Century Pins Promoting Life

As soon as I became aware of the various grass-roots campaigns to make this a better world, I joined in; those early organizations promoting life on earth were kinder, gentler groups back in the twentieth century. They had not yet devolved into massive money-making, violence-producing institutions. Then fighting for social justice was largely a pen and ink effort, so I filched money from my food budget to buy stamps to write letters to the various powers-that-be on Earth asking that they not despoil life on Earth. I did this even though I was too poor to buy even one campaign pin to signal my virtue.

Half a century later I saw these pins at a garage sale by a woman who was about my age, and I told her how I had walked through fairs and street campaigns for years without enough money to buy even one pin. She listened but said nothing in particular. When I got home I found that she had tucked these pins into the bottom of my bag and added the pretty wooden box in which to keep them. That she did this without charging me, without telling me, makes these little treasures even dearer to me. When I move from Illinois where I do not think the pins would be understood, to Seattle, Washington where I think the pins will be admired, I plan to wear these pins on my jacket each year on Earth Day.

Caption: Mid-twentieth Century Pins Promoting Life

by Annmarie Throckmorton 2018