The March for Life was, yet again, an incredible trip! This was the 36th annual march and my third. It was a different experience, because I went with a Kentucky group instead of a northeastern group and we stayed a bit longer in Washington. I left my house on Monday and stayed overnight with a friend. The next morning, we got up and went to Mass. I offered up my Mass for the new president. Then my friend’s mom drove us to Lexington and we went with the diocese of Lexington crew. We left Lexington on Tuesday night at about 11 P.M. We turned on the movie “Bella,” which was an awesome summary of why we were making this trip. I slept most of the way after that.
On Wednesday morning, we stopped for breakfast at MacDonald’s (I did a lot of MacDonald’s eating on this trip…). Then we loaded up and drove to D.C. We passed a Front Royal exit on the way and I flipped! I spent the rest of the trip looking at signs in the opposite direction and counting how far we were from Front Royal. (I’m obsessed, ok? Not my fault!)
We got into D.C. and went sightseeing, even though it was freezing cold (really, I think my nose froze…). We hopped on the metro and walked past the Washington Monument, through the WW2 Memorial, and then to the Lincoln Memorial. I loved standing on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial and gazing at the frozen Reflection Pool with the Washington Monument in the background. Then we walked back, through the Vietnam Memorial. The number of names was overwhelming and it made me really sad. It also reminded me of the number of children that die daily to abortion without even having names to place on a memorial.
After getting back on the metro, we went to lunch in Chinatown. My feet were killing me by this time, so the break was greatly appreciated. We went to “Chinatown Garden” and the food wasn’t that great…it was definitely expensive, though. Just a head’s up! Then we went to our hotel and got ready for the Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
At the Basilica, there were approximately 16,000 people. We got there pretty early, though, and got awesome seats! I walked around and looked at the different things. I’d been to the Basilica the year before, but it’s a gorgeous church. The art in it is incredible! The Mass was great! We were behind the priests, so we couldn’t see them, but it was incredible. The procession took a half hour because there were so many seminarians, deacons, priests, and bishops. After the Mass was over, we left and made our way through the thousands of people in order to get back to our bus. Once back at the hotel, we ordered some pizza for a late dinner, ate it, and went to sleep.
I woke up a little after five on Thursday morning in order to get ready. We left the hotel at 6:45 and walked over to the Verizon Center. After standing in the cold for a half hour, we finally got into the Verizon Center. We got crummy seats, but oh well. The youth rally was great and the Mass was awesome, as usual. The Verizon Center holds 20,000 people, I think, and it was totally full. After the Mass, we made our way out through everyone and walked across the street to make a head count.
After getting our group together, we walked to the rally on the Mall. We were in the way back, so I couldn’t hear the rally speakers. That was a bummer. Then we started marching. The crowd was SO congested! No one could move without touching another person. Around me, some people were praying rosaries and Divine Mercy chaplets, others were chanting things such as “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go!” Gazing at the crowds, it was so encouraging to know that all these people, these hundreds of thousands of people, were out there because they believed in something. They believed that every human being has the inalienable right to life and that no other human being has the authority to destroy innocent human life.
We marched all the way past the Supreme Court building. I was standing between the Supreme Court building and the Capitol and I was overwhelmed by their significance. These two buildings were some of the most important buildings in the entire country and here was little me standing between them and letting my voice be heard. I felt so important and so insignificant at the same time. As much as my feet were killing me, despite how hungry I was, and no matter how much I wanted to drop, I had marched and prayed to save the lives of babies, help poor and ignorant women, and be a part of the majesty of this country.
After the march, we walked to Union Station and met our bus. I sat down and said a prayer of thanksgiving for being able to sit down. Then I had an incredible discussion with Katie about the beginnings of our country and what it’s turned into and how much we want to make a difference. Then we stopped (guess where?) and ate dinner at 8 P.M. I got French fries because I can’t make myself eat anything else from MacDonald’s. After getting back on the bus, I varied between sleep and talking to friends. We finally got back into Lexington at 5 in the morning (only 24 hours before I was getting up to get ready for the big day!). We went to Katie’s and slept for a while.
On Friday, we hung out in Lexington for the day. It was awesome and would have been even more awesome if I wasn’t sleep deprived! I tend to zone out when I don’t get enough sleep…we left Lexington and Mom met us at my other friend Katie’s house. I got home shortly before midnight, made my bed, and then slept till 11 Saturday morning.
And that was my trip! It is always an incredible experience and even more so this year, because I feel so strongly about the pro-life movement. I pray that next year, America will be so pro-life, that we will not need a March for Life to protest the injustice of killing innocent human life. However, nothing short of a miracle will allow that progress to be made. Despite my belief that anything can happen with God, I also believe that He allows us to make our own choices and recognize the consequences. The past few days of our new administration have demonstrated for me that it is highly unlikely that we will experience that miracle.
Therefore, I continue to pray and continue to hope. I continue to strive for a better future for all and I continue to count on the virtue in human nature. I’m not alone. Not only do I have the hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers that came all the way to our nation’s beautiful capitol to demonstrate their beliefs, but I can also count on the hundreds of thousands more that were not able to attend.
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