“Young people are the heart of the March for Life. And it’s your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation.” President Donald Trump
Young people truly were the heart of this year’s March. And there is a great strength of character to be found among the crowd.
Notably this year, Nick Sandmann came back with fellow students from Covington Catholic. You may remember that last year a radical liberal accosted Sandmann trying to engage him. But he stood silently, working to appear pleasant, working not to provide a negative reaction.
Yet the media lambasted the teen. Remember that; he was a teen, a high-schooler. Sandmann and his family received death threats because of broadcast media assumptions about his “smirk”.
Just days before this year’s March, CNN settled with him over their misrepresentation of his reaction to the opposing protester. Other media outlets have yet to settle or be called to Sandmann’s day in court.
Days before this year’s March, Sandmann tweeted that he would not be bullied or surrender. He came.
Others came too.
Darlene Pawlik was one of them who manned a booth at the EXPO, one of the pre-March events. She had been conceived in rape–which sounds like enough of a story for anyone. But then she spent years being trafficked across several states in the Northeast.
Darlene’s website explains her ministry of loving the traumatized. “[V]ictims and survivors of abuse have trouble with trust, it’s hard for us to develop relationships. Recidivism happens when trauma bonds with abusers are stronger than healthy, nurturing ones.”
Darlene helps us understand how to help the traumatized. She speaks up on behalf of the one percent–those conceived in rape who are subject to a death sentence in the womb because of the circumstances of their conception. Circumstances beyond their control.
She spent hours on her feet baring her soul to help others avoid the torture she endured for years. Young girls often surrounded her.
This year’s March for Life was historic because it’s the first one a president attended in 47 years. But the legacy of the event will emanate from the Nick Sandmanns and the Darlene Pawliks.
Perhaps someday there will still be a March for Life that only reminds us of the days of legalized killing.
If that day comes to pass, we will owe praise to God–and to the Sandmanns and Pawliks who came and spoke their hearts in action.