Will You March On?
Benedictine College
The March for Life jumbotron.
By Kathryn Brown || Kathryn Brown is a Benedictine College student and Gregorian Fellow.
We are all back from the March For Life, all 381 of us. We are recounting our adventures, settling back into our routine, frantically catching up on homework. But before we get bogged down, I would like to pose you the question: how are you going to take your experience, and make it life changing?
I’m asking you, my fellow Marchers, right now, to make a commitment for life. Your own life, as well as the lives of others. You are on fire. So what are you going to do about it?
I ask this question because I know from experience that it is an important question to ask. I went on my first March my senior year of high school. On the bus ride back, I was pumped up, bursting with enthusiasm, like all of us are now. But when the bus captain asked us all to give our testimonies, he said, “Tell how the March affected you. But also tell us what you are going to do about it. How are you going to take what you have experienced these past few days and make it a part of your life?”
His question made me pause. I hadn’t thought about what I was going to do; I was too wrapped up in the excitement. But when the microphone came to me, I stood up in front of that bus full of teenagers and said I was going to train to be a sidewalk counselor. My mom and some friends were on the bus, so I had to follow through with it.
Now, two years later, sidewalk counseling has changed my life. When I stand out there on the sidewalk, I feel more strongly than at any other time as sense of purpose and personal fulfillment. And it is all because that bus captain asked a simple question.
That is why I am asking you that same question: “What are you going to do about it?” It doesn’t have to be anything big. When I asked this question on my bus coming back Sunday, most of the people said they were going to commit to being more pro-life in their everyday interactions with others by being more respectful and aware of their dignity and value. I really respect them for that; it’s a great goal.
By making commitments like that, we can change lives, both our own and those of other people. We can keep the spirit we experienced at the March alive…. until next year.
