The March for Life was jam-packed this year. I think the numbers (if anyone prints a story about it), will be greater than those from other years. It took hours just to begin to walk!
I did have trouble with the very loud protestors, the graphic images (more than any that I've seen in the past), and terribly mean signs about Obama. I always wonder what is on their hearts when they present the pro-life message like that. No judgment passed here, but I do have to wonder...
However, there were so many simple, powerful things that I witnessed. This was the first year that I went to the Youth Rally, where 30,000 young people gathered for music, prayer, and Mass with priests and bishops from all over our country. The Mass was offered by the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Donald Weurl. The crowd reminded me on a small scale of the pontiff's visit last year, and there was even a bishop sent by Pope Benedict XVI who relayed messages to us (specifically the youth who were marching) on his behalf, just encouraging us to be "the saints of the third millennium," as his predecessor John Paul II said we could be.
The number of young women...friends, sisters...peacefully walking arm in arm together witnessing their commitment to protecting their femininity and inspiring others to do the same...so very moving. As always, the number of little tots and toddlers stumbling along or relaxing in their strollers warms my heart!
I think the most powerful image that I saw today was the number of young men from high schools and colleges in the crowd...especially those from all-boys' schools. It gave me such hope that there are so many men (well, GENTLEMEN) in a younger generation who respect women enough to come across the entire country to demonstrate their love for our capacity to give birth and the joy it brings to the mother and the child.
Maybe men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but their convergence in the nation's capital today was amazing.
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Julian, I am so glad you had a chance to witness for life!! And John Paul II's words echoed by Benedict XVI just ring in my ears. I love our popes!! What an amazing call for us to be saints here and now. I was so discouraged this morning when I saw that Obama signed an executive order to begin federal funding of abortion abroad. So now, our tax dollars will be used to fund abortions at home and abroad. In fact, our country has just begun its 'new era of responsibility' by a promise, pledge, and an executive order to give money to women all over the world to abort their children. Wow, kind of a downer, isn't it? And the day after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade? Seems like a slap in the face. I think this is the mentality of people who shout heinous things about Obama and carry around graphic pictures.
The best witness, we know, is love. The best solution is not to slander Obama's character, but seek his change of heart and mind -- to turn his orientation away from himself and to what is beyond himself. How would our Lord handle this kind of thing? He does say, "Let the children come unto me." And he was never silent about sinful behavior. We cannot be either.
With respect to the graphic pictures. I think the graphic photos are disturbing, but sometimes people just need to know the truth. Sometimes they need to see the reality of what abortion is. Sometimes, even those of us who are pro-life need to see that reality. I know most pro-abortion men and women are put off by those signs. They point to it and say 'Look, those pro-lifers are crazy!!' I don't necessarily object to those graphic pictures of aborted children, maybe in moderation, I guess?? Maybe I still need to think about that. I think there is a time and place for people to see those. I remember watching a film called 'Amazing Grace' about William Wilberforce who worked tirelessly to outlaw slavery in England. He was successful, but it took decades, indeed his entire lifetime. And he did things like bring politicians and their wives aboard slave ships (which retained their horrible stench of mistreated human life), showed them torture instruments, etc. He shocked them, but somehow the scales had to fall from their eyes. What do you do when peoples hearts are so hardened that they simply won't acknowledge reality??
But I have hope. I trust in the Lord, and I accept Obama's challenge to live in a new era of responsibility. I might also add accountability. Not only should our government be responsible, but each person should do so too. And he is the first one I call to be responsible and accountable, especially to women and to those who have no voice. Women, children, and men too deserve better than abortion. Indeed, they have a right to something better than abortioin.
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