Westboro Baptist Church has stirred up my hatred since the first day I heard about them – their hatred, their protests, their tax-exempt status as a church, their seemingly untouchable civil liberties… I have long said I wanted to picket their leader, Fred Phelps’, funeral with a sign that simply said “God Hates Fred Phelps”. So when I read that they were coming to my town, Arlington, VA, practically in my backyard, I knew I needed to go. Their hate filled website confirmed the picket schedule – November 12 th (Veterans Day) – 7:40 am Yorktown High School, 8:50 am the Pentagon, and 10:00 am Arlington National Cemetery. I knew I wanted to counter-protest, but I also wanted to not let them get to me. To not let them spark the hatred in me, in everyone, that they are so adept at kindling. I lost a night of sleep worrying about what I should write on my signs. It seems silly to lie in bed awake thinking about something like that, but I did not want to volley their ha