Two weeks ago, I sat in a coffeehouse listening to poets with microphones. Some of them had poignant phrases and thoughts, and others spewed out their self-involved moments. One long-winded woman with a Scottish accent and army fatigues had the knack of going on far after I had drifted away into my own caffeinated netherworld. I've always thought poets should stick to their point rather than pontificate about the wet sidewalk of well-known cities. But even she had a solid message or two on her typed pages, and nothing about the night miffed me too much. Strangely enough, the one thing I distinctly remember about the army-fatigued lady is her announcement (after her last overdone piece) that she and a handful of others were going to Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization meetings. Good for her, I thought. It's nice to see people believing overpassionately about something other than sales at the mall.

I probably would have forgotten about her statement altogether had not thousands of other people felt as overpassionately as she did. As a result, protesters marched and lay themselves in the streets of downtown Seattle as the WTO conference got underway. In typical fashion, the police overreacted to the nonviolent protesters. "Break out the riot gear, boys. It's tear-gassing time. We'll show these punks what happens when you believe in equal employee rights for people in far away countries."

Police have always had difficulty telling the difference between peaceful marchers and riotous mobs. Anyone questioning anything is a threat. Protesters marched through downtown Seattle this week, and police drove a squad car into the middle of the crowd. When the protesters started rocking the car, the police rolled in with billy clubs and SWAT vans. "They started it," the police defended. Police brutality is always sanctioned if blame is properly accessed.

I'm not a big fan of protesters, but I've also come to realize over the years is that no one reacts to just strong words. I signed a petition to keep the street I work on in downtown Albuquerque one-way, and the city promptly switched it to two-way. I receive the Save the NEA e-mail petition at least four times a year, and it never seems to do a lick of good. The poet in the coffeehouse struggled to keep my attention, but as she hunkered down on a street in Seattle, she suddenly had the world's attention.

Why don't we listen? Why does the water have to bubble and boil over the side of the pot before we acknowledge a problem? Why can't we see outside are own aspirations to realize that what we do may adversely affect a great many people? Y? Wy? Why?

The answer is simple and has been used by everyone on every conceivable issue--we're right and they're wrong.

Rosa Parks is sitting at the front of the bus--she's wrong. Martin Luther King Jr. is marching in Alabama--he's wrong. Hippies are protesting the war in Vietnam--they're wrong. People are looting and rioting in South Central Los Angeles--they're wrong. Never mind what the reasons are. I'm right and you're wrong.

The protesters in Seattle have a point. Why doesn't the WTO address sweatshops and environmental atrocities which multi-global corporations have patented? Is the organization all about lifting trade barriers and reaping more profits for the already wealthy? If people will work for a quarter an hour, should they be paid fifty cents? Feel free to answer these questions any way you like.

I really wish we would shed our egocentrism and actually consider someone else's point of view. I wish people would go to the coffeehouses and listen to their local poets. I wish people would pop over to the bar and listen to that demented band they've heard about but never seen. I wish people listened to more than the television, the computer and the movies. I wish people didn't have to protest to be noticed. Altering your perception can open up a whole new world without taking a two-week vacation.

The rich see the poor as lazy, and the poor see the rich as greedy. Celebrities see the world as their oyster, and the world sees celebrities as aphrodisiacs. The government sees citizens as taxpayers, and citizens see the government as tax spenders. Punks see the middle class as dead waste, and the middle class see punks as the wasted dead. Protesters see the WTO as powerless lackey of global corporations, and the WTO sees the protesters as a detriment to international cooperation. And you know what? They're not always right, and they're not always wrong.

You're not always right, and I'm not always wrong.

Chris Jungle has been accused, tried and convicted of Starting It.