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Fighting for the Cause

So, the other day while I was running, I feel like I had one of those things where you finally realize something that you’ve always known, but never really internalized.

I was just doing some meditations before my prayer while running, on the pro-life cause. Then, I thought about something an acquaintance once told me, about how “the pro-life/pro-choice debate is never going to be anything more than a talking point for politics and how nothing is going to change”. What I realized while running (internally, I’ve been aware of this fact for awhile) that there was a point in time when abortion was illegal. But, someone wanted abortion enough, that it was their “right” that they made it legal (although now she fights against abortion). Since then, there have been literally millions of people who dedicate their lives working against the pro-life cause.

Granted, biking for babies, has a very small place within the pro-life movement. I just hope that we can just do one small part to help out a couple of organizations who do the real dirty work and make the biggest difference fighting for our cause with some financial aid and bringing more attention to the work that they do.

All of what the pro-life movement does isn’t just about “proving” that the fetus within the mother is truly a human life, but that we all care enough about the babies and the mothers to give huge sacrifices because the cost is huge if what we seek to do continues to be lost on over a million children each year just in the U.S. Of course, everything would be worth it if just one life could be saved, but what could I really say to those children who don’t survive–that I didn’t care enough to fully respond to God’s call in protecting the dignity of their lives? I know that I won’t ever be able to respond as completely as I should. But, with events like this, it’s undoubtedly difficult to maintain focus on our mission. But, the answer isn’t to just ignore the physical aspect of the ride. What I hope people realize when they hear what me and my friends are giving up for spring break isn’t that we’re doing this for ourselves, but that there are a lot of more people than just us who are willing to answer the call for life in the way we feel we were called. We’re all called to make the sacrifice in different ways.

So, that’s part of my resolution this Lent–to more actively defend life from the depths of my physical effort. Because, while more pain or more distance is not going to directly save any lives, I hope it does show someone that me and my friends are willing to show the pro-choice movement that “pro-life” is more than an opinion, but something that we all live out as often as we can, in every way that we can in every point we can fight, whether it be from our bicycles, from our prayer, or from the voting booths “protecting the dignity of life everywhere”.