En Fuego: Why Don't They?

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Why Don't They?

Only for stock photo purposes. "The stillness of 4AM" from my Instagram.

The alarm goes off. 2:45AM. Mad rush to shower, pack lunch, and make coffee. Out the door by 3:15AM. Travel 45 minutes. Easy drive because there's no traffic. I get there, and there's no one really around save for the lone gentleman who I'm replacing. 4AM. Minutes later, my colleagues arrive.

After some small talk, we begin what we're there for--we pray. At the very least, we join together in praying a Rosary, but much of our hour is spent in silence and personal prayer time. At 5AM, the next group of people show up, and we exchange greetings for this "changing of the guard."

The nice consolation for getting up so freakin' early in the morning and praying at an abortion clinic from 4AM to 5AM on a weekly basis for 6 weeks last fall was that I got to go to breakfast with the other men that I shared the 4AM hour with. IHOP and Einstein Bros. are delicious at 5AM.

Yes, I did this weekly for six weeks, once a week. I actually got to do 40 Days for Life again this past fall, and that was nice because I wasn't able to back in 2013. I actually freely and willingly chose to have my hour at 4AM because one of the men I shared that hour with is a coworker and friend, and he normally does that hour for 40 Days for Life. And we could squeeze this in before work.

Now, in years past I've actually blogged reflections from doing 40 Days for Life. This time, I elected not to do so.

But as I stood there outside of Everyone's Favorite Name Brand of "Women's Health"™ praying and thinking, I had one particular thought that occupied my brain each time I went: they aren't here. I mean, yeah, at 4AM the clinic is definitely not open because it is way before business hours, but even then... they aren't here.

In fact, in all my experience of praying in front of abortion clinics, they are hardly ever around. Sometimes they have escorts in the parking lot helping clients into the building, but even then I begin to wonder why they are hardly there. One particular morning, I saw a little opossum. It was adorable. But even that opossum was present. But they were not.

Some mornings for this past 40 Days for Life, being the fall, were really cold. Here I am standing out in the cold when the clinic is closed at 4AM in the morning, and they're not there.

So that brings me to wonder the question: why don't they? Why don't they occupy public easements in peaceful protest at awkward hours in the morning like we do? Why do they never match our intensity and willingness to endure suffering and hardship for the sake of their cause like we do for pro-life? Why don't they rally together on a yearly basis on a grand scale like we do, across the country?