At the beginning of February, I did something I had never done before in my life – I went to school. After spending the first eight-and-a-half grades home schooled, it was, well, different.

It also gave me a much clearer insight into the age group I’m part of, the one I am committed to reaching with the pro-life message. Youth are a group that wasn’t there on Canada’s Day of Infamy, 30 years ago. Instead, they grew up in the culture of death unleashed on that day. Not that there wasn’t abortion in Canada before 1969, and not that there aren’t other destructive forces in the world, but it’s obvious that the legalization of abortion was a watershed.

Even though I’m attending a Christian high school and most of my fellow students have been exposed to pro-life messages, there is a general lack of a desire to change the way the world is.

I don’t mean they don’t care, but to some degree, most teens are desensitized to violence and death. Death saturates their culture. A murder doesn’t really “get” them. The violence you see on your TV is a reflection of a society that hates life, and it drives us toward worse crimes.

On May 14, we will not be marking just a Day of Infamy, but the beginning of a generation of infamy and our culture of death.

Most of you who are reading this are involved in supporting some kind of pro-life group. There are numerous worthy causes out there, from politics to education to crisis pregnancy centres, all of which are essential to end abortion in Canada. Many of you write or phone your MPs and provincial representatives. This is also very important.

But please don’t overlook the importance of simply being there. When we have the chance to protest abortion in a national event, with Canadians from coast to coast gathered in the capital, we can have a great impact. We need to show our country that we are concerned and caring, and that we are standing against an evil which always leaves at least one person dead.

What’s more, when we stand together, we don’t just remind the world of how great a tragedy an abortion is, we remind the youth that there is hope for the future.

Please, come to the March for Life. Please encourage young people to come as well. More people in my age group need to see what is really going on in our country, and they need to be encouraged not only to understand, but to act.

May 14. It’s Canada’s Day of Infamy. Let’s make it Canada’s Day of Hope.