Last year, I attended my first March for Life with a couple of my college friends by way of grabbing a ride with a high school youth group. It was lots of fun and we made some interesting memories, but one of the things that made the biggest impression on me was the sheer size of the crowds. Especially the vigil Mass, which in case you've never been there- it took a half hour just for the entrance procession and there were literally hundreds of seminarians, priests, deacons, and a few archbishops who celebrated the Mass. Afterwards, the metro station at Catholic University of American was overflowing with people! It was estimated that about 300,000 people attended last year.
This morning I was reading the Catholic Register (which is an amazing publication, and totally worth the price! :) and in it (it's a couple weeks old by now- I've been busy) there was an article about this year's March which said that it was estimated between 100,000 - 200,000 people attended this year. The article mentioned something about the "disinterested and jaded media." This comment stuck out to me, because I remember being in complete awe last year after arriving home from the March that there was nothing on the news about it last year. It was the largest turnout the March had ever had and it didn’t even get a 30 second mention on any mainstream news media. It’s outrageous! How can the world be so disinterested and jaded from something that according to new statistics more than 50% of Americans be in support of? The news would rather discuss another homicide story or some new scandal. Craziness!
But let’s also take a look at who is attending not only this March, but the west coast one, and even the 12 year old who just organized the Colorado’s pro-life March for the third time in his life! It’s the youth. The youth is seriously representing at these events! We’re also the ones who are organizing events, promotion the message, and urging love rather than death. We are the future and I think more people our age are really taking this to heart. We’ve grown up in a cold world. A world that’s the product of raging, messed up times, and we don’t necessarily like the world we’ve been raised in. So, now as Americans that live in a country “by the people, for the people,” it is truly up to us to make the changes that we want and we need. If our young generation is doing this much now, give us a few more years. Give us a few years until we’re experienced and old enough to be in places of power. Watch us then. We’re already making changes now in our culture and the opinions of our country. Wait until we’re actually in control of those changes. We are a generation of hope, faith, and power. We will not stand for injustice or unsanctity of life.
Ok, so it's not letting me link this really cool video made by some youth group kids in Maryland, but maybe if you copy and paste the web address below into your browser, it'll work :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcCypMORf4k
Peace and Love!
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