The march is over, what happens now?
“The march is over. I’ve done my job. Marching for life was hard work and very rewarding but that’s it for this year. I probably won’t even think about abortion or its effects on society until next year….”
Another March for Life has come and gone. I know better than anyone that we get so caught up in the business of our lives that we become desensitised to what we so passionately marched for. We say we are pro-life, but what are we actually doing about it on a daily basis? As a hibernating grizzly eats grass to obstruct his normal digestive process in preparation prior to hibernation, the same can be said for those of us who partake in the March for Life only to justify our inactivity for the rest of the year. It is agreed the pro-life message must be dealt with, but for some this means only by other people.
As one honest pro-lifer recently wrote on Instagram, “nothing like the March for Life to get you out of your apathetic stupor”.
I struggled with this harsh reality myself. I was a “hibernating” pro-lifer. I marched for life, but it ended there. I remember thinking after attending my first March for Life four years ago, “Abortion is such a big giant to overcome. Politicians who have status back this grave act of genocide, and their parties don’t even want to discuss the abortion issue. I’m a high school student, I don’t have a degree and I don’t have a name for myself. How can my actions help defeat such a large and ever-growing obstacle?” These thoughts kept me from getting involved in the pro-life movement. So many think that in order to do something great with our lives we must first become great. What I - and so many others - have failed to realize is that greatness is already in you. If you marched for life, this message flows through your veins. You want to go up to every mother considering abortion and plead with her to keep that radiant human life which is developing inside her. You want to give her anything she needs to keep her child. You sympathise with those 300 babies that are given the death penalty each day. You want to cry out to our government in hopes that they will finally see this mass genocide for what it really is. If this describes you, then you have great potential.
Three hundred murders. Three hundred crimes against humanity every day. Lives inhumanely taken under the euphemism of “choice”. Many pro-“choice” activists shout, ‘my body, my choice’, but they fail to recognize that some choices are wrong. Our rights end when we infringe on the rights of another person. It’s so easy to refute, yet somehow our country is divided.
Marching for life is good, and it is necessary, but it shouldn’t end there. We marched not as single people seeking separate objectives, but as a united whole aiming for a common end. There is strength in numbers, but greatness in unity. So what do we do? The march is over and you want to get involved, but how? If you have the will and desire to do something, you can act on that greatness inside you to make a difference. Pro-lifers need to do more than just march. Every single pro-lifer in Canada is able to give their time, talent or treasure to help end abortion in our lifetime. When we do our part, we can truly say we are pro-life. When I realized this, I looked for ways that my actions could help the larger movement put an end to this unrestricted practice of abortion. I volunteered for local pro-life organizations, I joined the pro-life club at my university and I have given money to help this message of life go forth. It is that love for life that allows me to continue all my efforts. Pro-life work didn’t end when I finished marching on Parliament Hill for the first time four years ago; it began.
So I ask you, why did you March?