CrossTalk: The March of Life

On Thursday, January 22, I and a few friends walked down Constitution Avenue in our nation's capitol. It had a profound impact on me and I would like to share it with you.

The date for the walk is significant. We walked on January 22 because it was on that day in 1973 that the United States Supreme Court handed down the decision called Roe v. Wade. As a direct result of those men’s opinion, America has lost over 55 million people in the past 42 years.

The friends who joined me were about 500,000 people from every state in the union. Imagine gathering the entire population of the state of Wyoming into a few city blocks. That’s the March for Life.

We arrived about 11:30 and the crowd steadily thickened until the 1:00 start time. Speeches were coming from a huge stage, but we were too far back to hear them. When we tried to find a better place, we only succeeded in getting separated from our group. Twenty anxious minutes passed before we found them again.

There was a man pushing through the crowd and yelling out important-sounding things. But once close enough to hear, they were only curses and ugly insults hurled at us, the marchers. Saddened, we turned away. Those closer to him tried to talk calmly and reason with him. Some offered him words of comfort. Nobody tried to shout him down. Nobody reviled in return.

Once the March began it was more like a shuffle. Imagine a half-million people walking down twelve city blocks. It took us over 30 minutes just to get off the grass and onto the street. But we were moving. I was excited to get going, anticipating the destination.

There were many other groups, each one had a different pace--a different way of dressing. Some loud and singing, others were totally silent. Some individuals didn't come to march. They came to preach at the marchers. We ignored them. We had came to walk. One showed terrible and disturbing photographs. It subdued us. You could feel an intense wishing--not so much that they would stop, but that they weren’t real.

As time dragged on I became more anxious to arrive. I wanted to speed up, but there was little hope of that. Time passed slowly and progress was slower still. My phone rang and filled my thoughts with problems and challenges that I faced elsewhere. But on we marched.

In the end, it took us three full hours to walk 12 city blocks. When we finally reached our destination I looked around for a sign that we had arrived--a concluding speech, or a bell to ring, a vista for a picture--anything. But there was nothing of the sort. We milled around for a while and left for home in pairs or small knots.

This ending may sound disappointing. I admit that I was disappointed at the time. But on the plane ride home, I had a chance to reflect. The March for Life was a lot like life. We spend so much of our lives hastening on to the next thing, anxious to reach a goal. We are confronted with obstacles and annoyances along the way. Many times the people we are walking with begin to get on our nerves. We are forced to hear things and look at things that we would prefer not to. Sometimes this is facing up to the truth, but not always.

And when we get to the destination that we had anticipated for so long, there is no trumpet blast, no dazzling light. No one makes speeches and the orchestra does not play a finale. We just take it in for a moment and move on towards the next destination.

I will go back to the March for Life. My second time, though, will be different. I will be more patient for the destination to come. I will be less anxious about the time that is passing. I will be more appreciative of the people around me; and less annoyed by the myriad distractions. Because I have learned that the point of it all is in the walking. The point is in the participation; it is in the joy of loving people that you have never met and will never know. Loving people for love's sake. That’s the March for Life.

And while I am waiting for my next chance to go to Washington D. C., I will be applying all of these very same lessons to my daily walk here and now. Life is not about our destinations, or our goals. It is not about efficiency or productivity. It is about walking together; it’s about staying on the path that Jesus walked; it is about forgiving and loving and understanding and bearing with one another.

Not a bad lesson to begin with as we enter into the walk of Holy Lent.