Saturday, August 19, 2006

Honk If You Love Protesters

Yesterday morning I was back on the sidewalk in front of Metropolitan Hospital here in Windsor, one of a line of abortion protesters that stretched all along the walk. The numbers have increased recently; it's really encouraging!

If you have a cause you believe in, and you drive past people who are out in public making it a public issue, please show your support. Honk, wave, be obvious. Let them know that you're behind them. In the past, I would have been too embarrassed to do such a thing, but now that I've been one of those people behind the signs, I know how heartening it is to feel support.

It amused me yesterday how many noncommital people there are in the world. I mean, I don't mind the ones who ignore us... it's the people who are opinionated but shy that make me laugh. If they drive past us frowning, does that mean they disagree with us? If they drive past us smiling really big, does that mean they're with us all the way? My favourite was the girl who flickered her finger at me... I couldn't tell if she was flipping me off or showing support.

People verbalize things sometimes. Last week a very commital person threatened one of our guys; told him he'd come back with a gun. Yesterday, a fellow pedaled past us on his bike, shaking his head and telling each of us, "We don't want you." But most moving to me was the car that slowed down as it passed, so the girl in the passenger's seat could lean out the window, point to one of our signs--the one that says "I Regret My Abortion"--and say, "Me too."

Our culture frowns on having convictions; much more on expressing them. But it's just possible that that girl wouldn't have had anything to say to us if someone had been a little more convicted in her life--not condemning, just honest and compassionate and convicted.

Some opinions deserve to be thought out until they become convictions; many convictions need to be acted upon. If you're sitting on a fence in your own heart somewhere, I encourage you to take the steps you need to take and leap off on one side or the other.

1 Comments:

Blogger Marie said...

I always wondered when I picketed whether people were honking AT me or FOR me.

11:10 p.m.  

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