As soon as I woke up, I knew this was not going to be a good morning. It was, after all, 7:30. I normally leave my house around 8 a.m., and was supposed to get up at least an hour earlier. Stumbling to the bathroom, necessities in hand, I realized that having a proper shower was out of the question. On top of that, I wanted to wear my best skirt, which requires twenty minutes of gymnastics to put on properly. Turning to look in the mirror, I saw my hair looking like something Scary Spice (of the 90’s pop group the Spice Girls) would wear onstage. I scrambled to put myself together, grabbed a frozen stir fry from the kitchen for lunch, and somehow made it out the door only 10 minutes late.
If you spend enough time around me, you will learn that I become stressed very easily. A great gift that being active in the pro-life movement has given me is the ability to put (some) things in perspective. One of my favourite country musicians, Brad Paisley, has a song called “One of Those Lives.” Here are some of the lyrics:
It’s been one of those days,
I let things get to me
I got no right to complain,
Cause when I look around I see
Folks that are fightin’ for every breath,
And it makes me realize
It’s just been one for those days for me,
But for them it’s been one of those lives.
I have been pro-life for the past eight years. Not all of that time has been smooth sailing. Some of the “rough waters” have appeared because of my choice to act on my convictions. Days like this make me wonder what those with chronic or severe health issues, as well as parents contemplating abortion must go through – among many others. Of course, I cannot forget the children in danger, especially those lucky enough to survive the abortion procedure. These people must “fight for every breath,” as Paisley says. So much time is spent figuring out how to get by, and my problems seem very little in comparison. Though my life is far from ideal, the time I spend saving lives makes me so much more grateful for what I’ve been given.
Taylor Hyatt is a summer student at The Interim.
