This past January I attended the 37th annual March for Life in Washington, DC. It was a trip I will never forget. I may confuse it with the four other trips I have taken to the March for Life in DC in the past, but I will never forget it. I attended my first March when I was an eighth grader at Beckman High School in Dyersville, Iowa. I still remember my reactions to all of the amazing experiences that I had there. Such experiences as walking into the National Shrine for the first time, listening to all of the senators and congressmen from all over the country speak of how wrong abortion is at the political rally, and I definitely remember looking back down the hill when I finally made it to the top, seeing all of the people in front of and behind me. All of these people, all here for the same reason.
This year I did many of the same things but had many new experiences. This year I sat up in the main church of the National Shrine for the Pro-life mass for the first time, every other year I attended I was down in the crypt watching the mass on a TV. But this year I saw it all. Not only was I in the main church, but I was sitting in the pews of the main aisle, and in the third row. I had a better seat than most of the priests and all of the more than 400 seminarians that processed in. Speaking of the procession, it amazed me again this year just how many seminarians, priests, bishops, and even cardinals come to this mass. The procession alone took 45 minutes. But the inspiring thing was no one complained, no one sat down, and no one stopped singing. The mass was said by a very energetic cardinal, Cardinal DiNardo, who compared us to baseball players, which got all those college and high school kids in attendance’s attention.
The day after the mass is always the March itself, the reason we are all there, the reason I have sat on a smelly bus for 20 hours through snow, sleet, hail, and rain; with broken heaters, broken doors, and a broken bus all together these past five years. The March was held on January 22, the anniversary of the passing of Roe vs. Wade, the court case that resulted in allowing abortion to be legal in the United States. Before the March itself starts there is a political rally where senators and congressmen from all 50 states speak up against abortion, there were even some priests, rabbis and pastors who spoke as well. These men were greeted to the stage with cheers from millions of people, and you could always tell where their state was standing because as soon as they were introduced and their state was named the cheers erupted from somewhere in the crowd, showing that their state was pro-life. All of the speakers had great messages, telling us not to stand down, not to lose hope, and to “keep on truckin’” as one senator put it. Behind the speakers was an even more amazing and moving sight. The “Silent No More” women stood on the stage with their signs that read “I regret my abortion”. Every year there are more women that realize that they were hurt by their abortion, and they were lied to. Every year more women who had abortions join the others on stage to let America know that abortion not only kills the child, it hurts the mother as well.
When the march itself actually started I knew that it was a good year. There were so many people in attendance that we had to wait 20 minutes to even get into the street to march, and the best part is that we weren’t even at the end. There were so many people there that we were off the streets and onto the sidewalks. In years past there was room to weave through people easily, but this year there was no room to go anywhere but with the crowd; we actually came to a complete stop at one point, which has never happened in years past. While on the march we did much more than walk. You could hear many people praying the rosary, or the divine mercy chaplet. Some people brought musical instruments and were singing; some had no musical instruments and were still singing. There were signs from colleges and parishes all over the map. I met a few people who were not even from the United States. The people that attend this march aren’t just there to have a good time, because to tell you the truth it’s not that kind of trip. It’s cold on the march and before you walk the 2.5 miles of the march, most of which is up hill, you stand outside in the snow, and sometimes mud as was the case this year, for hours. This isn’t to say that it isn’t a good trip, it is but it takes a certain amount of love for the cause in order for you to really get the full aspect of the trip. Yes, I did look down Constitution Avenue again this year as I have every year for the past five years that I have attended the March for Life in Washington DC, and yes, I did get chills from seeing all of those people here for the same reason, marching for life. If you would like more information on the March for Life or are interested in attending next year contact the Duhawks for Life by e-mailing aaron.junge@loras.edu. Also if you aren’t quite sure about going all the way to DC but would like to be more involved in the pro-life movement contact the Duhawks for Life as well.
