The following was submitted by Valerie:Its 3:30
in the morning and I have no idea how I’m going to manage the full day
ahead of me with only two hours of sleep. I look at the chaperons like
they’re crazy and then I look around the room and everyone’s fighting
their covers over their heads to keep the light out. We all know we
need to pack up and get ready for the march but no one wants to do it.
Now don’t get me wrong, the whole week had been fantastic with the
visits to saint shrines and the beautiful basilicas, but honestly all I
wanted was sleep. Of course we had lights out at 11:30 but we didn’t
go to sleep until 1:30 talking, because we’re girls and that’s what we
do, and every other day we had to wake up at 5 and if we questioned
this the response was always ‘because we’re pilgrims not tourists’… I
don’t know about you but to me this was pilgrim torture. On top of the
lack of sleep, the freezing cold weather froze our hair when we walked
outside and no matter how many clothes we had on, we never figured out
how to stay warm. While this might sound slightly miserable, it was
anything but. The highs chool girls coming together and bonding, because that’s
what we do, and tormenting Mr. Hallford, or Hulk as we came to know
him on the trip, to stand up for a cause we believed in made the whole
23 hours on the bus (one way) worth it. Being in the Verizon center with the 30,000 other teens
is something I will never forget. The power of the Holy Spirit that you
feel while being in there is something that cannot be described.
Imagine seeing all these high school and college students just jumping
around, singing and praising God and coming together to speak for those
to have no voice- the unborn. There was a quote that a girl said
before the mass started that I found to be somewhat striking- she
stated, “I wonder how we manage to look for life on mars, but we can’t
seem to find it in the womb of a woman.”After mass we made our way to the national mall to eat
lunch before the march. I have never seen so many people in one area
before. Honestly, I thought that it was Mardi Gras in DC and I just
didn’t get the memo or something. To see the hundreds of thousands of
people was just incredible. To see all the signs that people were
holding and seeing people cheering and talking and praying together was
awesome.
I was looking through my pictures last night and noticed a few more..
one said that ‘well yes it’s just a mass of tissue, but technically so
are you’. Another just stated ‘1/3’… That’s 1/3 of our generation lost
to abortion. That’s a neighbor, a classmate, a boyfriend, a best
friend, maybe even a brother or sister. 1/3 of our generation…If that
isn’t considered a holocaust then I’m not sure what is.As the walk was coming to a close, we were right in
front of the capital and I noticed three women standing in front of the
steps with the same sign… each said ‘I regret my abortion’. I thought
it was incredibly powerful so I took a picture before I was just going
to continue walking. Right before I turned away, I noticed the last
woman in the line. Her sunglasses weren’t tinted very well and I could
see that she was clearly crying. I walked up to her and gave her a hug,
and when I did she started crying more and held me tight. At that
moment I realized exactly how much abortion affects not only the
children that are killed, but the women who get the abortions done.
Abortion is not just a physical hurt, but it is also an emotional and
spiritual hurt.
 After participating in the march I realized how exactly
we partook in history. We peacefully stood up for
something we believe in. We were the voices for those who cannot speak –
the unborn- and as long as abortion is still legal, we will continue
to be their voice.
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