I was never one to sit at home and avoid confrontations.

I volunteered for service in the Navy in World War II. I signed up for picket line duty when I was a journeyman machinist at Yale and Towne, the lock company. I “sat in” in Boston Common with my students to protest our involvement in Vietnam.

Some years later, when I was president of Emerson College, our black students went on strike to support their 10 demands. It was an eye opener to find myself on the authoritative end!

We settled, accepting two of the 10 demands. One of the student leaders became a very close family friend.

What was I missing in this nationwide “occupy” movement?

Recently, I happened on a piece in “The Bollard” — a free weekly, describing “a week in the life of the Lincoln Park protest.” It was written by a single mother and grandmother who “had lost two jobs and been forced to couch surf with friends and family.” She commuted from her rental in Peaks Island to her current job at Whole Foods.

I read on, hoping to find out what the Occupy movement stood for. The next few pages contained a few snippets.

Nick, a 22-year-old, is quoted as saying, “I just don’t get what this is all about.”

To which Heather replies, “ But you’re still here. There must be something about this.”

NIck rocks back and forth: “I’m scared that they’ll come after us, the banks.”

Macy counsels, “It’s not about material things. It’s about a better way of life.”

TJ is angry: “Bank of America took my money from me and my wife. That’s why I’m here.”

An Irish vet who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder adds, “I worry about where this is going. They could send the army.”

TJ’s wife says, “I want a better future for my kids.”

Steve from Auburn hasn’t had a job in “forever.”

A teacher says she has been waiting for this — “a people’s revolution” — for a long time.

Another says, “ I’ve been (angry) for years.”

Montana exclaimed, “I’m a vagabond.” He came to Maine three months ago. Before that he’d been living in a Florida tent city run by the Catholic Charities.

Macy explained, “It’s like fireworks … then all of a sudden (she stretched her arms over her head) the light is everywhere, released.”

The organizers called a General Assembly. Twenty people showed up. The Bollard reporter was able to retreat to her daughter’s apartment for a hot shower and laundry to clean and dry her wet clothing and bedding before going back to Peaks Island at the end of a week of protesting.

I heard one TV reporter ask another protester if he wanted to take money away from those who earned it to give to those who didn’t. The protester was stumped by the simplicity of the issue. He had never thought of it that way.

I have been fortunate, all my adult life, to have had a paying job, a place to live, and a wonderful family. Conflicts have been resolved. A second strike at Yale and Towne was called off. The U.S. pulled out of Vietnam.

On a personal level, I refused to pay illegitimate charges on my Bank One credit card, cut their card in two and mailed it back to them. I still have a Bank of America card but the same treatment awaits them.

Other businesses I have been associated with have found that the Golden Rule applied to relations with customers and employees. They will treat you just as well as you treat them.

RICHARD CHAPIN lives in Georgetown.