Dear Hecate
We live up the street from a constuction company that just got expanded. Now big diesel trucks carrying other equipment roar out of there every morning just as the middle school kids are leaving for school and come home every afternoon when the little kids are getting home from school. We talked to the new owner who shrugged and said he would talk to his drivers about slowing down, but they haven't. One of the mothers across the street says we should demonstrate by sitting down in front of the trucks, like she saw in a TV show. What do you think.
Hecate
Great issue. Nothing like a few Mothers protecting their children to make city officials want to come to the rescue. First some pre planning and preparation work. Put together a letter from you and other neighborhood Moms that describes the public safty and public health dangers of fast trucks spewing diesel fuel. Send it to the Mayor, send it to the City Council. Contact the Board of Health to complain about the diesel fuel triggering asthma attacks. Ask for a meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals to limit their hours of operation and use of residential roads. Get the preliminary organizing work done, and THEN you can get some really powerful publicity by organizing a Mothers March and Sit In. Notify the police of your plans, organize some non demonstrating neighbors to take pictures in case the press doesn't show up.
Who is Hecate?
Hecate is a Greek Goddess who served as a guide and coach at the crossroads of Hades, where after crossing the River Styx, Greek souls found themselves facing three choices: the Elysian Fields, abode of the great and heroic; the Fields of Asphodel, for all who had led a blameless but ordinary life; or to Tartarus, a sunless land of punishment for criminals.
Hecate's best known role in Greek mythology was guiding Persephone, the goddess of spring, on her annual journeys between Hades and Earth. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is portrayed as a nurturing and protective guide for Persephone on those annual journeys.
