January 25, 2007 9:45 AM
My column in this week's Loudoun Times Mirror - Why I March for Life
Keep in mind, I only have 500 words :)
Why I March for LifeWhen it comes to walking a mile in someone else’s shoes, I’m qualified indeed. In fact, I’ve walked thousands of miles in all different kinds – from Birkenstocks to strappy high heels to sequin-covered flats. I’ve done a lot of walking barefoot too!
But over the years, my slogan’s changed from “Life’s too short for ugly shoes†to “Life’s too long for painful shoes.†I’ve grown up. I’ve changed.Which is why you would have found me lacing up my snow boots Monday and heading into Washington DC for my second Right to Life March.
Now you need to know that DC and demonstrations are a major part of my history. As a leftist, my credentials were impeccable – unfolding from antiwar activist to Second Wave feminist. I fought for abortion rights and after I’d moved to San Francisco even had one of my own.
But after 30 years in the Bay Area I returned home a different woman, a woman walking in shoes I had never been even remotely interested in trying on. Had you told me way back when that those shoes would be pro-life, things might have even gotten physical. My politics then were powerful and proud – based on MY needs, MY logic, MY rights.
But life’s about growth and change. Life’s about making mistakes, admitting them, and moving on. It’s about learning that it’s not about you.
Which is why once a year I now return to my old stomping ground.
The March for Life is probably the most under-reported demonstration in Washington. It’s hard to find out who spoke and about what. It’s hard to find out how big the crowd is and who was there. And so I take my camera – because every picture tells a story and all those stories add up to the truth.
The truth is that there are hundreds of thousands of people there who have come to believe – or who’ve always believed – that an unborn baby is not a piece of property, but a person. What would surprise those who’ve bought the stereotype of pro-lifers as middle-aged, white, and mean is that 75% of the crowd is under 21. It’s a true rainbow coalition. And it’s full of vitality and joy.
In fact, the younger generation is becoming increasingly pro-life. Why? Because they see it differently than the grown-ups do. I’ll never forget the day Matt came home from school and said, “Mom, I looked around my class today and realized that a quarter of us were missing.†Or the day Sophia responded to an article about parents “balancing†their families through gender engineering with: “How’s that supposed to make us feel?â€
Good question. Every kid alive today knows he or she is here because their parents chose not to abort them. And while some Boomers may think that might give them a warm, cozy feeling, some kids don’t feel that way at all.
Think about it. Take off your own shoes and put yourself in theirs.
For my photos and commentary on March for Life 2007, see http://picasaweb.google.com/BarbarasMommyLife
You can link to the article here.
For more on where Sophia's question led me, see Second Thoughts on Reproductive Freedom, which was published in the Christian Science Monitor 2/19/04.
btw, the Christian Science Monitor is highly regarded as a paper of record, not an organ of the Christian Science church). I enjoy writing for them because they are very professional, they pay well :), and they're carry a lot of thoughtful articles on culture and the family, like today's If it's rated "R" who brought all these children?"
Posted in Loudoun County, Pro-Life Issues | Permalink
Comments
Do you have your conversion story online?
Posted by: Christina | January 25, 2007 11:42 AM
You can find one version of my conversion story here. Of course, there's only so much you can say in 1200 words. I've written about it from many angles in other articles and my books.
It's pretty amazing, that's all I can say!
Love, Barbara
Posted by: barbaracurtis | January 25, 2007 1:25 PM
I was amazed at how little publicity there was of the march, not just in D.C., but here in my own city. Thousands of people turn out for it, and yet not even the local bloggers had much to say. The focus seems to be so much on embryonic stem-cell research and while that's important and the "slippery-slope" potential is huge, there still are millions of babies dying every year. Admittedly, I don't watch the news on tv, so I get my news primarily from the internet, so there may have been something on the local channels. Quick searches on my local news channels show only gleeful AP pieces about how the anti-abortion cause has lost clout. Whatever.
I was born in 1974. I have found that even though I was "wanted" the culture has affected me. It really does make those of us born after 1973 feel something, even if we don't know what it is. Perhaps it's the knowledge that if we'd been born to different parents or at a less convenient time, we'd be dead. It's almost like having a death sentence hanging over your head all of the time; knowing that it's only by God's grace that you were conceived by parents who would choose to allow you to live. I think that subconciously we feel that we were all supposed to die, but some of us escaped. Some of us were granted clemency. And we don't know how to deal with the guilt and the loss of family and friends we'll never know. I think that loss has gotten more intense as the years have gone by. And I think it's one reason (among some others, but not that many) that younger people are so groundless and desperate for love. A child is supposed to believe that his parents love him more than anything and love each other even more than that. But what is a child supposed to do when neither of those loves are certain? Just look at our culture and you'll see what children do.
I look at my own children and wonder how the love of death in this culture will affect them. I want them to know that I love them and that their father and I will always love them and each other. We trust God to protect their hearts and minds while praying that God will use us and them to reach out to a hopeless world with the message of eternal life and everlasting love.
Posted by: Lucy | January 26, 2007 11:52 AM
