I just got back from one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had, the March for life. One thing I don't understand, is that I haven't been able to find anything on it on the web. I mean there were over a hundred thousand people walking down Constitution Avenue. It was amazing. Yet, no mention on any website. This distresses me a tad. It seems like every other voice gets heard whenever they make the slightest protest over what Bush ate, or the latest thing to be mad about, and they always get good press coverage; whereas a bunch of lame ass pro life people get no blurb on CNN.com. Not even a stinking, hey there were marchers, a lot of them, yada yada yada. (Someone please correct me if it was mentioned I can't say I looked very hard, but it wasn't among the top links.) Anyway, 4500 babies dead everyday. I could open up a big can of worms but I won't. I'm not going to open up the whole is it wrong/right debate. I just wanted to tell of a couple of cool things I took in. 1) The youth. IT seems like every Catholic High School in the nation sent a delegation. It was great to see so many youngsters walking down the street singing, hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go! 2.) A minor side note. As a Catholic growing up in Texas, its hard sometimes to believe that you are part of this huge entity. Today I saw it alive and walking down the streets for a cause they thought was right. It was great, I mean I've stood at mass with 2 million people in Rome but this was something different. I imagine this is what the great civil rights activists felt like walking down the street back in the day. 3) The shocking pictures. Wow. Simply wow. Almost lost my lunch a couple of times. 4) This old brother me and my buddy spoke to for about two and a half hours. He's spokesman for the AOH (ancient order of Hiberians- people who protected the Catholics who kept the faith alive under English persecution.) He said a couple of cool things. The first being that this is not a woman's issue. That is the great fallacy of the prochoice movement. It is a moral issue first and foremost. The action of terminating a pregnancy, is simply not moral. Everyone looks at the consequences, such as the child will have a cruddy life (which I remind you, the color blue is reason enough to live). But you know what. That is not a direct result of the action of birth. The child and mother could get hit by a car on the way home. The pure and simple action of killing the baby is not morally justified (and I'm not speaking of special circumstances such as a baby in the Fallopian Tubes). The second cool thing was when he was talking about his job in the order, and how it is his job to inform members that their beliefs do not fall into the beliefs of the order namely 1) CAtholic 2) Irish or some Irish 3) PRO LIFE. He told of the story of having to kick Ted KEnnedy out, even though he's good friends with his son (who happens to be pro life) KEnnedy the elder wrote a letter to him stating how he is really pro life, and that the pro choice stance is purely political. He said he didn't even respond to the letter. Sent KEnnedy on his arse. 4) The Dubliner, what a cool Irish pub. Man that Guiness in a plastic cup was wonderful after 4 hours of marching. Everybody there was pro life too so that was a plus. 5) The overwhelming sense that we were doing something right...overturning a wrong and an evil that does nothing but DE feminize women. There were these 2 pro choice activists on the side walk as the overwhelming crowd walked by, and apart from looking scared, they were holding a sign that said, IF men could have babies they'd be pro choice too. And just first and foremost my buddies looked at each other and felt like going up to the guy and saying, but guys can't have babies! 6) The conversation on the way home about how, theres always this sense that (and their are some radicals out there that make the pro life movement look like a bunch of quacks) pro life people hate women who've had abortions, and how we all didn't feel that at all. We all said we just feel sad when it happens, and wish that it wouldn't have, but we don't rain hate upon them. All in all, I think it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Lieberman I think, had a quote where he said it is a serious time for America to rethink the abortion issue. I urge you all to keep these things in mind, I'm not trying to brow beat you, I'm just saying.
Kudos to you for exercising your right to peaceful protest. The helpless feeling you get from the event being under-reported reminds me of how I felt when each President Bush blew off anti-war demonstrations, but the righteous feeling you got from doing something you know is right with a community of likeminded believers reminds me why those demonstrations were worth it. The right to protest is one of our most valuable in this country. Although I don't agree with you on this issue, I'm glad you took advantage of that right.
I saw this on CNN, though I would imagine that from the time it was going on, while you were on the street and not on a computer, enought other stuff happened in the day to bump it off the front page.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/01/22/doodle.dogs.reut/index.html Here's the main story on the news site washington, DC. Great news to push a wonderful march today.
I don't agree with the issue, but I admire anyone who actually participates in the political process... and peaceful protests are certainly that. Pretty great that we can do that and not get the "treatment" the governments of some other countries give those who try to express themselves. Look at what's happened to those in Iran, for example, who have attempted the same thing calling for real democracy? I marched against the Vietnam War 35 years ago. The feeling of solidarity is pretty special. You look around at the ten's of thousands of others around you and really feel like you're doing something worthwhile... and you are. Democracy in action.
I agree with Batman and Deckard. Kudos to you for doing this. This country would be a much greater place to live in if people could accept other's viewpoints respectfully. We should all strive for that.
I don't remember, I was in a cafe on campus, so I wasn't totally focused on the tv. I just remember seeing a huge crowd of people and hearing that GWB had a statement for the people there about their cause being noble.
Just f.y.i., but a few years ago here in Austin, TX., I had a most excellent time participating in the March for Life; we walked straight up Congress Ave. towards the State Capital; our day ended there with a flurry activities such as speeches, prayers, etc. If memory serves, there was indeed very little news coverage prior to the event. In fact, the only reason I didn't miss out was due to a friend's invitation. Though afterwards, local media coverage of an event with several hundred participants wasn't so bad. I've sort of forgotten about this until I happened upon this thread. Thanks for posting your experience twhy77.
I applaud you for getting out there and voicing your opinion. Protesting and marching on our government is perhaps the most amazing right we have as Americans. I bet it was an awesome experience for you.
My fondest memory of the Right-to-Life marchers was back in the olden days when I was a teenager. Protesting on a park bench, cranking "Last Caress" by the Misfits on my ghetto blaster as the procession walked by. And then being physically threatened. When that didn't work, I was "spiritually" threatened. What can I say, I was a teenager.
