March for Life: Chapelle senior Lynsey Giardina

In our modern culture, we tend to think of our roles on this Earth as having little impact. Sometimes we feel that what we are doing is just “a drop in the ocean.”

St. Teresa of Calcutta addressed that feeling of shredded dignity and belittlement by saying: “But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
 
When I was in eighth grade at Archbishop Chapelle, I remember saying a prayer at a pro-life meeting to send off our classmates who would attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. It wasn’t until these past few days, however, that I got to delve into the depths of being a pro-life activist and find its true meaning and worth.
 
We were constantly told: “We are pilgrims, not tourists!” Despite wanting to take this phrase and bang it against a wall at first, it grew on me as I came closer to putting that burning desire to save the babies into fruition.
 
I have heard many times the impact one person can make in this world: Martin Luther King Jr., St. Teresa, etc. However, it is hard to imagine one high school student marching among 800,000 other people to truly make a change.
 
As I was holding up my sign among the masses of others, I felt this sense of change and impact oozing out of me. That 23-hour pilgrimage on a bus was worth it. Waking up early with little sleep the night before was worth it. Being in the freezing cold and windy climate was worth it.
 
I felt unstoppable. I felt fulfilled. I felt proud to be a drop in the ocean, taking a stand for the unborn, for the oppressed, for the euthanized, and for the various ways this country embodies a culture of death. I felt needed.
 
Abortion kills millions of children every year, yet parts of the world sit in silence. Pro-choice activists call us “women haters.” Popular news stations choose not to cover the march. Some Americans live in a bubble filled with myths and poisonous ignorance that blind the truth about the horrific abortion industry and the compassionate pro-life side.
 
I chose to take a stand against the murder of the innocent and kept a running mantra in my head. What if it was the doctor who found a cure for polio who was aborted? What if it was St. John Paul II who was aborted? What if it was you?

Lynsey Giardina is a senior at Archbishop Chapelle High School.