On Saturday, April 5, rallies were held across the country to protest the Trump Administration cuts designed to reduce government spending that many feel are overreaching and illegal. One Milford woman shared her experience on social media, attending the rally in Washington DC.
“Ready for tomorrow!” was the first post Shelby Nash DiCostanzo shared on her social media with photos of three signs. The signs read “I’ve seen better cabinets at Ikea” while another read “Too young to give up, too old to shut up.”
DiCostanzo, who grew up in Milford, attended the rally with her brother, Josh, and posted later in the day that it was a “great day exercising our rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.”
“I went to the rally because our country is on the brink of a constitutional crisis and our president is embarrassing our country on a global stage,” DiCostanzo said. “For me, living in this (conservative) area, it was important to participate in this rally. I’m feeling so much fear and frustration that is largely unexpressed.
DiCostanzo posted on social media that she has been vocal, politically, since before she was old enough to vote.
“While in DC, I got texts from three different friends, who are my political opposites,” DiCostanzo said. “The texts went on to tell me that, while we don’t agree, they are proud of me for my moxie, my passion and its longevity. Those moments were very special to me and I am grateful to be seen, even though we do not agree. You all know who you are and thank you.”
DiCostanzo found it reassuring and good for her soul to be around so many like-minded people.
“I am not naïve enough to think that our president cares about those that do not agree with him, but I am hopeful that other elected officials see how many of us are truly alarmed by what is happening in our country. For me, it is not a difference in political opinion, it is a difference in morality. I will always go out of my way to stand firmly for morality.”
Comments on her social media posts indicate others agree with DiCostanzo’s sentiments, even if they did not attend the rally with her.
“We’ve got to work hard to get back to a place where we the people on all levels can agree to disagree sometimes,” Veronica Jean posted. “I’m pretty much right in the middle so I often feel like a child caught up in a messy divorce. If we continue down this road of it’s either this extremity of one party or that extremity of the other party, I fear we will lose a civil society, I am so glad you felt the love of your friends”
Gus Rehnstrom, who taught government in Milford School District for many years, also commented on DiCostanzo’s post.
“The important part of our democracy is “freedom of speech.” That is important for all of us to understand and that is what has made this country so different from others, “Rehnstrom said. “As a former teacher of 30+ years, I told my students that if they could tell what political persuasion I was, I was not doing my job. Thank you, Shelby, for doing what you believe! And more important than that is being willing to listen to other views.”
