The weather for the 2008 March for Life was bitterly raw! This, however, didn’t stop thousands of pro-life marchers from processing from the Ellipse on the south side of the White House to the U.S. Supreme Court.

As buses from around the country descended on Washington and unloaded marchers of all ages, races and genders, I had to once again wonder what this march really means.

Going back to the previous day and the Rev. Martin Luther King’s anniversary gave me my answer. And in pondering that answer, I wondered why so many other idealists and inspiring people have been assassinated – Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi and, more recently, Benazir Bhutto.

As a child, my grandfather taught me to go to the Bible, for “nothing is new in life; it is all there in the Bible.”

Going back to it, I found myself more puzzled than ever. Why did Cain kill Abel? Why did Joseph’s brothers throw him down a well to die? Why did Saul try to murder David, and why did Judas betray Christ?

It dawned on me suddenly that when we are confronted with murder, killing, genocide, abortion and assassinations, we are faced with the direct antithesis of kindness.

Kindness means being well-disposed toward life, others and ourselves. When we become ill-disposed, our disposition becomes darkened. No longer are we able to see beauty or experience goodness. The heart becomes hardened, almost as if the devil is there.

When we go beneath this darkness, we often find it is propelled by jealousy, resentment and selfishness. The goodness and high ideals of another become viewed as taking something away from us. We not only opt to distance ourselves from society, but to also despise it.

As I reflected on this year’s pro-life march, I wondered how many marchers realize they are marching for the light of Christ that dispels the darkness that is at the heart of ill disposition.

Depression is one of the worst darkenings of the mind we can experience. Those who have it tell us they would rather break an arm or leg than experience it.

However, the darkness of mind that causes abortions, racism, genocide and euthanasia is far more dreadful because of its damaging effects on the human spirit.

What is the light of Christ of which we speak?

It is faith when debilitating skepticism threatens to cripple us; hope when despair is crushing in on us, and love when hate jeopardizes our healthy disposition.

To walk in Christ’s light is to choose life over death, selflessness over selfishness, and harmony and constructiveness over turmoil and destruction.

Marching for life is to march for the beautiful human spirit with which God blessed us.