After a crazy run around for tickets and plans to attend the march, we finally came up with a plan. Apparently, the confusion started when a few extra tickets to the Youth Rally appeared at our church. One of the priests mentioned giving them to our family. The problem is meeting the bus to attend at 5:15 am and not returning until 5:30 pm. A very long day for my kiddos who are not extremely early risers. Well, the tickets slipped through our fingers during miscommunication. It all worked out! We decided to meet Karl at his work for lunch then take the Metro to the March.
Through the aid of cell phones and luck, we managed to meet up with our close friends who departed from their bus three blocks away. With over 300,000 people in attendance, this was short f miraculous. We passed many groups; Baptist and Catholic church groups, youth from various states, many sisters and friars, etc., all sharing in a common goal - end abortion.
We waited for about an hour or two before the actual march began. One group used a potable speaker to lead a rosary, another started rally cheers of "We love babies, Yes we do, We love Babies how about you!"
The vibe was one of love and hope. People coming together to express their belief in the smallest of the small. There was no violence, the police actually looked bored as they made mental counts as people walked passed the Supreme Court and Capitol buildings.
Karl took the opportunity to make the outing a history lesson by explaining our Bill of Rights to the children. How in other countries people are shot for demonstrating their views but in our country we have this right, this freedom to petition and show others our views. When so many, but the numbers are dropping, look at a pregnancy, a child, as a disruption or inconvenience to their life, that they feel empowered to destroy it so they can continue as before. Instead of looking at the hope of the future, they focus on their current self-focused world crumbling. If more could hope and love their neighbors as themselves, the Golden Rule, think of the peace that would come!
