Guest Blog by Angela Kim
I breathe in and out, watching my breath condense in the chill air. Stretched above like a sheet of ice, the sky shimmers as the sun struggles against the suppressing cold. Its heat warms the crowd only a little, beaten away by relentless winds. It is cold. And yet, despite the numbness in my fingertips, the shiver running through my body in an uncomfortable tremor, I cherish every moment, willing this day to last forever. After all, I dreamed of attending the March for Life for years now, and I finally made it.
Getting here has not been easy. For most people, it is a simple matter of piling in a car and driving to Washing D.C for the day, but I am limited. I do not have a car or a license, and I also do not have enough money to afford the $150 tickets offered by local pro-life groups. I had to find another way.
In the end, I traveled with a friend named Emily. We took a bus from Michigan to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where a friend let us stay the night. Then we joined a homeschool co-op’s bus that drove six hours to Washington, D.C, only to stay three to four hours and drive all the way back.
It was quite a long way to travel. But it was so worth it. As soon as we stepped off the bus and into the cold, chill air, I knew it was worth it.
I am standing in a crowd of people, smiling people wrapped warmly in jackets and scarves and hats. For a moment, I wonder how vast the crowd is, so I make my way to one side and stand on a three-foot wall, looking out. I cannot see the end of the crowd. It is a sea of people. Colorful signs and flags soar through the air. Music blares in the background, whispered prayers filling in any moment of near silence. I look around, and that’s when it hits me.
Everyone in this crowd is here for the same reason. Everyone here believes, more or less, the same thing. For years and years, I have been passionately against the injustice of abortion, and during these years, I felt so alone. But here I am, and here they are, in numbers greater than I could possibly imagine.
We march.
And we make a sound. This sound is a song, a cry, a chant, a speech, and a prayer. It is thousands of voices speaking at once, speaking the same thought, the same belief. We make this sound for those who cannot make such a sound themselves. We make this sound and every political person in Washington D.C cannot avoid hearing it. President Barack Obama himself cannot but hear our voice. And it doesn’t stop there. Our shouts and our cries for justice then continue to roll across the nation and across the world.
We make this sound for the unborn. And we will be heard.
I would like to take a moment and encourage you to attend the March for Life this year, no matter the distance it takes to get there. I traveled several hundred miles to spend a few hours at the March, and it was definitely worth it. The opportunity is so rare, the impact so tremendous, that I could hardly believe it. Really, the March for Life isn’t about marching itself or about being pro-life. It’s about truth. And, truthfully, abortion is unjust. It’s wrong. It’s murder. And it is our job to stand together in great numbers and remind the world of this.
I want to finish this piece with someone else’s words. I am standing in a massive crowd all around a raised stage with speakers, cameras, screens, and a podium. This part of the day happens just before the march itself. You get the chance to listen to a number of amazing speakers. One speaker in particular stands out to me the most.
He says, “You may or may not know this. My birth mother was seventeen years old. She wasn’t married. She didn’t have a boyfriend. She was terrified… didn’t know what to do. And her dad and her church put her in the doors of a pregnancy resource center and people just like you opened their arms to her, showed her the love of Christ, and gave her an alternative. And I’m here and alive today because of this movement, and I’m here to say ‘thank you,’ and I will continue to say thank you until abortion is ended in the United States.”
Angela Kim is 18 years old and a student at Grove City College. Her life goal is to glorify God and end abortion in the United States. To stay up-to-date with her work, visit her blog at Journal of an Abolitionist or follow her on Twitter @MissAngelaAKim
