On a recent weekend in January, 140 Benet students, teachers, parents, and faculty made the pilgrimage to Washington D.C. to participate in the March for Life. They were joined by approximately 650,000 others marching for the same cause. Many described the experience as the best that Benet has to offer.

When asked to reflect on the experience, chaperone Nida Jaleniauskas recalled the words of a keynote speaker who said, “I don’t want to make abortion just illegal; I want to make it unthinkable.” Junior Jesse Herr said, “The gift of life is something that I cherish and value because 60 million others have not been as lucky.”

On the bus ride home from D.C., the faculty moderators asked each of the students who attended the March to write a letter to a prospective marcher to convince them to come. The following is one of those letters.

To a possible future March For Life-r from a first year Marcher,

Picture this. You’re standing in the middle of a street in Washington D.C. on a crisp Friday afternoon; functioning on a solid 4-5 hours of sleep; aching from the waist down from trying to sleep on a cramped bus seat; suffering with an uncomfortable headache from lack of sleep and caffeine; and completely exhausted.

When you picture this, don’t forget to also picture: the crowd of thousands of like minded, yet marvelously unique, people surrounding you; the shining sun beating down upon the masses occupying the National Mall; the overwhelming sense of jubilation and optimism that radiates from inside you; and the hoarseness of your voice after endless repetitions of the same raucous chants you learned the day before on the bus.

It is so easy to be a follower; to compromise your integrity for the sake of being well-liked or tolerated; to sit idly by while the injustices that occur in our world continue to transpire around you; and to shut your eyes and ears.

It is not easy, however, to sleep on the floor of a Tri-State Travel bus for 4 hours; to kneel on the hard concrete in the rows of a hockey stadium for mass; to speak the truth that is written in your heart when others refuse to hear it; and to accept that people may never treat you the same after they learn that you are pro-life.

The March for Life is not easy. The March for Life is exhilarating, eye-opening, encouraging, demanding, terrific, serious, important, and above all, life-changing. It is worth every second of the missed school work and class time. I cannot tell you exactly how to have an experience such as this, but I can tell you that the opportunity to is out there waiting just for you.

Yours for life,
Greta Maras
1/20/18