Go. This Saturday. For You.

Remember summer camp? The smell of sunscreen and pine needles. Counselors who were barely older than you, acting like they had it all figured out. Swimming lessons at the town pool, where you finally stopped being afraid to jump off the diving board. The ice cream truck making its lazy rounds through the neighborhood, that tinny melody you could hear from two blocks away.

Remember Mister Rogers telling you that you were special, just the way you are? Kermit the Frog strumming his banjo, a little wistful, a little hopeful, singing about rainbows?

Fourth of July sparklers. Thanksgiving at someone's too-crowded house. The Pledge of Allegiance, which felt weighty and important even when you were too young to really understand why.

That's America. Your America. The one that taught you that neighbors matter, that fairness matters, that every kid deserves a fair shot. The one that told you — through every after-school special and civics class and cheesy Disney movie — that we're all in this together.

This Saturday, there's a No Kings protest near you. Go.

Not because you want to be in the news. You probably don't. None of us do. We don't want to be a pixel in a photograph behind a corporate paywall, reduced to a data point in someone else's narrative. We want to be people. Neighbors. Americans doing what Americans do when things matter.

Go because it's one afternoon. Go because it's not about politics — it's about the country you grew up in, the one you want your kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews to grow up in. Go because standing next to someone who also remembers what this country is supposed to be about is one of the most grounding, human things you can do right now.

Go because courage is contagious.

It might feel uncomfortable. You might not know what to say or what sign to carry. That's fine. Show up anyway. That's always been the American thing to do — show up for each other. At the town hall meeting. At the neighborhood potluck. At the school play.

This isn't for some abstract future generation or some talking head's agenda. It's for you.

Go find your local event at nokings.org. Bring a friend. Bring a sign. Bring your uncomfortable, wonderful, patriotic self.

See you out there.