Last week's women's marches in Washington, D.C., and all across the globe left an indelible image.
Women and men, young and old, reflected the diversity of this nation and a commonality of spirit in what has been called the largest demonstration in American history.
Whether they were marching in the nation's capital or on their respective home turfs, millions of men, women and children took to the streets to protest.
The election of Donald Trump as president sparked the demonstrations, but the messages the protestors carried to the streets were much more than anti-Trump.
There was a lot of that, of course. The whole movement developed after a retired lawyer from Hawaii suggested a women's march on her Facebook page the day after the election. The idea took off overnight and soon marches were being planned in city after city.
Social media fanned the flames of what certainly looks like a significant grassroots movement.
President Trump, inaugurated the day before this historic march, took to Twitter the day after to say, "Was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?"
Many of them did vote, of course. They showed up to march because they, like that retiree in Hawaii, were demoralized by Trump's win and/or disappointed in Hillary Clinton's loss of the presidency. They had expected to be celebrating the first woman's election as president and instead got Trump.
Incidentally, Trump's next tweet was what he should have said in the first place.
"Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy, " he wrote. "Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views."
A lot of the views expressed on Saturday were not kind to Trump, but many others were aimed at support of so-called women's issues -- equal pay, health care, reproductive rights, paid family leave -- and more.
Many messages of hope and encouragement emanated from the marchers. Participants often described the ebullience of the crowds and a shared focus on staying united to influence policymakers from city hall to the U.S. Capitol -- maybe even President Trump.
Some, of course, just wanted to express their contempt for this president, his agenda and his past behavior, including his videotaped remarks about grabbing women's private parts. The sea of pink "pussyhats" worn by demonstrators throughout the nation was testament to that particular offense.
The marches were clearly not all about Trump. The residual impact should affect the Congress and elected officials in state and local governments as well.
Teresa Shook, the woman whose Facebook post set the marches in motion, commented later that "a negative has been turned into a positive."
She's still focused on Trump and his likely re-election bid in 2020, but she welcomed the broader messages some people brought to the protests.
"All these people coming together to unite to try and make a difference. That's what we're going to be doing for the next four years," said Shook.
The focus turns now to the follow-up, however it takes form.
"Today was very reminiscent to me of the organic movement we saw with the tea party," said U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who marched in St. Louis on Saturday. "Time will tell if this passion continues, but I'm betting it does."
It was the conservative tea party movement that helped Republicans gain control of the U.S. House in the 2010 elections. This week's marchers would do well to learn from the tea party's playbook.
In fact, the tea party's success is at the heart of publication written by former congressional staff members to help people lobby the Congress.
Called "Indivisible," the guide is free and available online. It is intended to help people resist the Trump agenda, but many of its recommendations are admittedly taken straight out of that tea party playbook.
Its authors witnessed the rise of the tea party and saw how its supporters organized locally to convince their respective members of Congress to reject President Obama's agenda.
That same influence helped turn the majority of the Arkansas Legislature and all of the statewide offices Republican.
Will participants in the women's marches in Arkansas and elsewhere harness the passion and energy of the weekend to some similar effect?
Like Sen. McCaskill said, it is a good bet that they will.
Commentary on 01/25/2017