Ok, so I only walked for two weeks, and I didn't walk across all of the country in those two weeks. Shocker. But I walked, and I learned.
From July 8th - July 22nd 2017, I had the privilege of walking with Crossroads Pro-Life, and this particular group did, indeed, walk across the U.S. of A. (To explain in brief: the group started in California and finished just a few days ago in Washington, DC). Their mission? To walk, pray, and sacrifice for the hearts in this country to recognize the dignity of human life in every stage.
The Logistics
During the week, the group traveled around with an RV and a van. The ladies stayed in the RV at night during the week, and the men stayed in tents.The van was our best friend during the days we were walking. Those assigned to morning shift would get in the van and head out for the day. A shift usually consisted of 6-7 walkers. The shift would split in about half, and the groups would take turns walking 1-3 miles. In the vans, waiting to walk, you would find us napping, reading theology books, or scavenging around to find the last granola bar. When actually walking, you would find us praying, laughing, grimacing, or taking in whatever beautiful view was present. Usually, the morning shift would meet up with the rest of the group for Mass in the middle of their shift.The walking/van rotation then continued until the afternoon when the next shift would take over from wherever the morning shift had finished walking. A few people would make dinner at the RV camp, the group would pray together, and bedtime would hit so fast you couldn't even remember blinking. The whole journey would begin again early the next morning.
During the weekends, we were housed by host families (more on them later) and would speak at parishes.
My friends, it was a beautiful whirlwind.
The People
How crazy do you have to be to walk across the country promoting a message that you wholeheartedly believe in? Just crazy enough. The walkers that I was blessed to walk with had varying types of personalities with one thing in common: a fiery passion for promoting the sanctity of life. It is one of my favorite things in the world to meet people who care. And care they did. Not only were they passionate about people in the abstract, these men and women were sacrificial in the most concrete of ways. I was the newbie in the group, and one lovely lady slept on the RV floor so that I could have a bed my first night in the RV before we figured out sleeping situations that could accommodate everyone. One of the men on the trip had someone hand him two cold water bottles to replace some of our room temperature ones. Instead of keeping them for his half of the shift, he ran out to give it to our half. People cooked for one another, prayed for one another, made each other laugh and loved each other as best they could. And they offered me that sacrificial love as a stranger joining their midst. I won't completely sugar coat it though. Obviously, with many varying personalities come many varying conflicts of wants, opinion, and just personality itself. However, the underlying bigger picture of their journey kept them as a family and kept them walking each day. The fact that these people offered their entire summer to this cause was truly an inspiration.
My fellow walkers weren't the only people that I encountered that inspired me. Like I said earlier, we would stay with host families on the weekends. The host families that I encountered were sacrificial, thoughtful, and overwhelmingly generous. They would feed us. They would allow us to do laundry. (Many loads, my friends, many loads). They would make sure we were awake in time to get to the churches we needed to get to. They would let us ride their 4 wheelers through sunlit flower patches. (THAT was a highlight). My heart was touched by their acts of service and their care of us.
We met generous parishioners at the parishes we spoke at, and we met many that needed prayers for difficult situations (if you're still reading this, say a prayer for them if you get the chance).
We met a priest that pulled over on the side of the road to donate to our cause and to say a prayer with us.
So many beautiful souls were encountered, and it gave me new hope.
The Lessons
I've heard it said that pro-life people only care about the fetus and never afterward. If that is the extent of a person's pro-life beliefs,then that is a despicable travesty. Pro-life means caring about all people, all injustices, and all uniqueness-es of each person from conception to natural death. Crossroads recognizes this and puts it into action.
In the middle of one of the shifts, we had stopped the van at a rest stop. A few of us had gotten out for a bathroom break, and upon our return we saw a lady talking with some of the walkers who had stayed in our van. I'm not sure why she had come up to us that day---maybe our bright yellow pro-life tshirts drew her to us or maybe just the fact that we were all young people had something to do with it. But she started talking to us and explaining her story. She had been taking care of a grandson.She had a mentally ill daughter. She had just gotten kicked out of her apartment and had to live in her car for a few days before finding another place to stay. We gave her money for the hotel room she had asked for, gave her a ton of our snack food/water bottles, wrote down her prayer requests, and prayed with her on the spot. I'm not writing this up to sing our own praises. I'm writing this to show how much the group cared about this woman ( who wasn't a fetus) in need and jumped into action by helping her as best they could. I wish I had taken a picture of our group giving what they could to this lady, but I will have to make do with the one in my mind. This is how we should all be living our lives.
Another man we met while walking reminded us that when prayers go up to Him---> blessings come down. A simple statement of faith that most of us have forgotten about.
Finito
I learned about myself in those brief two weeks, and I learned about other people. In the eyes of my fellow walkers, I saw the strong, kind, patient, fierce passion that we must all gain in order to become preachers that walk the walk as well as talk the talk. Because it matters. To quote Pope St. John Paul II: "The person is unique and unrepeatable, someone chosen by eternal Love." Real talk paraphrase: there will never be another you, that fetus will never be the same as any other fetus, we belong here, and we are loved.
Grateful doesn't really begin to cover my time on Crossroads, but it's the word I will leave you with.
If you have any interest in donating or walking with Crossroads next year, go to: https://www.crossroadswalk.org/
Blessings,
Paula
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