M4L

I never thought I would attend the March for Life. While I understand the importance of the abortion issue, I’m not passionate about it. Would I carry a baby full-term, even if out of wedlock? I hope so. Would I want others to do the same? Yes. Does that make me pro-life? I’m not sure. 

That being said, I volunteered to chaperone Bishop Ward’s trip to the March for Life because I though it would be a great way to know students better. What could be more bonding than a 30 hour bus ride with 37 high school students? 

It began on a Sunday morning. Our Bishop Ward contingent got on a bus (after checking every, and I do mean every, bag for contraband- specifically alcohol) and drove to the archdiocesan headquarters for Mass. Apparently the Archdiocese sends many people to the March for Life every year. People, particularly youth, packed the church. After a wonderful Mass, we refilled the bus and started our journey. 

I’ve been on coach buses before. The band always took them to competitions and our yearly spring break trip. The trip starts off amicably, people chatting and playing games. Then at some point movies play to allow people to breathe again. If the trip is lengthy the risk of a loud, overtired party of some sort, usually at the back of the bus, is quite high. Not this trip. Almost from minute 1 the students wanted us to play movies. In fact, the only time we didn’t play movies was during the few hours of sleep available. The students didn’t party; they hardly ever raised their voices. The bus ride was pretty uneventful (except for a small hiccup in the middle of the night when our fire extinguisher set off- luckily we were at a gas station and got it fixed within 30 minutes). 

The same could not be said for the remainder of the trip. We happened to be in DC during one of the coldest weeks on record. Temperatures were single digits or below zero. The windchill was definitely negative. We experienced a moderate snowstorm, complete with ice and several inches of snow. Schools closed. Though we warned students to bring warm clothing, some of them failed to listen. To that end, some of the chaperones made a stop at Walmart to purchase boots, hats, gloves, and scarves. 

We tried to make the best of the situation. We did a small walking tour the night we arrived. We braved the morning cold and snow to complete a DC scavenger hunt. They attended a terrific evening of worship and song with Matt Maher (I stayed at the hotel with a sick student). The museums lost out to the snowstorm. 

The March itself proved to be the best part of the trip. Even though the day was bitterly cold and I had to keep track of 7 students (no small feat in a crowd of thousands), I enjoyed the March. There’s something about walking through your nation’s capitol with thousands of perfect strangers in support of a good cause. One snapshot will forever come to mind when I think of this trip. I’m standing in the middle of the street, closely surrounded by strangers. Even though I’m wearing two pairs of socks, one of them wool, and have foot warmers in my shoes, I can’t feel my feet. I pull my scarf up and my hat down against the biting wind. We move slowly up the road, following the lead of those in front of us. A few people away, I hear someone leading the rosary. As I listen, the prayer spreads wider and deeper. I join them and suddenly feel an intense connection with those around me. It’s as though we’ve become a community, bound one to the other by our common humanity. The prayer concludes, but the feeling continues. Even now, as I look back on that moment, I can still sense that connection. 

We walked off the streets of DC right into the waiting bus for our return journey. One that would be quite stressful for me as I tried to coordinate my transportation transfers in order to get to our JVC Reorientation Retreat. 

One thing to note as this post closes. We made the students responsible for many of their own meals. We advised them in all trip information to bring enough cash for food. I can’t tell you how  many students ate exclusively McDonalds during the trip. It saddened me to see this because I know that food doesn’t properly nourish the body, especially when it’s consumed consistently, but that for many students it may have been their only option financially. Some students, however, made me angry because they spent money frivolously (way too much food, highly priced unnecessary food, or souvenirs) and then complained to the chaperones when they didn’t have money for their last two meals. I understand that many of these students don’t have experience with money and therefore don’t know how to budget (fortunately Bishop Ward requires classes on this to graduate), but that doesn’t change the terrible position us chaperones are left in.