157 innocent babies' lives are taken every hour. That's 3,786 every day. Every day. Every hour. Every day. And it goes on. And on. Until one day...we wake up. And it will be over. And no more will the mother's womb be the most unsure, unsafe place for a human being. Every child's beating heart will be cherished and protected and sheltered. Every person will have the chance of life.
Exhilarating. Chilling. Joyful. Crowded beyond crowded. Sea of Love. Bundled layers so only eyes peer out of hoods and hats and scarves. Voices praying. Bagpipes playing. Children smiling in delight and innocent life. Elderly braving the less than freezing temperatures, sacrificing their feeble bodies for a generation yet to be born.
This is #whywemarch 2014.
January 22 has become a highlight of the year for me. It is a day to soberly mourn the loss of over 55,000 babies in the past 41 years. That number, around which whose mind can wrap? But it is also a day to celebrate the beauty of life and our hope for an end to the massacre. Those who don't march might think the hundreds of thousands of us have lost our minds! Who would go out in these types of weather conditions at our nation's capital in such a massive mob of humanity?
Well, I would do it because it is a mob of the purest love I've ever been in. This is a crowd that loves God and loves their neighbor. These are people who want to protect and save lives, to speak truth and rescue a nation that has lost 1/3 of my generation in the saddest and most silent of holocausts ever known to history.
Life is the greatest of all gifts. If life is taken away before it even has a chance, then what else matters? Who are we to say who has the right to brightly burn with the fire of life and whose life should be snuffed out just after the spark has been lit? Our world is not safe until every single child is loved, honored, and given the basic right to live.
So we marched. Our fingers and toes were bitter cold this year. But it was a small sacrifice compared to those sweet babies whose fingers and toes are growing inside their mommies, yet are considered less than human just because they are so tiny. Are not the tiniest of our kind to be shielded with love?
It was a beautiful march this year. The snow symbolically washed away the blood of our nation with God's grace. There is yet hope for us. There is a generation that needs our voice. I pray by this time next year we will not need to march... But, if there are still 157 lost every day, or even just 1 lost every day...we will march. And I hope you will join us.
