walk for life rally

so i joined some 6,000 to 7,000 pro-life marchers yesterday in san francisco for the first-ever walk for life here in the west coast. and, man, it was loads of fun. it wouldn't have been as fun if the hecklers weren't there. though for me just walking through sf for this cause is thrill enough. you may read here how it went from the standpoint of one of the main newspapers in the area.

by and large, the description of the event is pretty accurate, including the references to insults and jeering met by the pro-life marchers. i was quite impressed by one elderly gentleman on the pro-life side, marching purposefully, carrying his little banner, and all the while being insulted to his face by a young woman on the pro-choice side, pacing along with him. a lesser man perhaps like me would have bobbed her on the head with that tiny placard; but nope, he kept on marching and ignoring her as her insults got more and more blue. quite impressive.

another thing that struck me was the easy association that pro-choice folks make with this particular group of marchers--and perhaps with catholics in general--with the policies of the newly-inaugurated president bush. so, among the chants i heard from the pro-choicers, "fascists get out of san francisco!" "right-wing ignoramuses go home!" "no to war!" were included. how "koo koo" is that? not only was the pope and the majority of US bishops against the present incursion into iraq, but just associating a rightist bent with catholic social and moral teachings just misses the point of what the church is saying. just read for instance this short write-up on the matter. just can't pigeon-hole catholics easily.