Day 174: A protest

We had left the hospital, where we'd found Mary's grandfather getting progressively worse. The broken hip has led to a number of other problems that the doctors can't seem to keep up with. We prayed for him again in his room, this time in the critical care wing of the hospital -- both Mary and I glad for his faith but worried nonetheless.

So we left that place, which was made mellow by the notion of the end of life, and were driving back toward the highway when we saw people protesting the the same thing, but in a much different way. Two men and a woman were bundled up, standing in front of a women's clinic, singing from a hymn book. One of the men was holding a sign, indicating this was a place that supported abortion.

We read about people like this a lot, and I've encountered many of them in my own work -- people who spend their lives actively trying to bring an end to abortion. For these, that meant sidewalk protests. So I turned our van around and stopped to get out to talk to them. They greeted me kindly, although I could tell they were a little bit suspicious of me at first. Probably rightly so. The war they're fighting has proven to be a dangerous one.

But when I told them I wanted to pray for them, they warmed up a little. I asked if they were Christians, which was a dumb question considering the hymn book and what looked like a rosary one of them was holding. They said I could pray for them, but the leader asked if I could wait until they finished singing their hymn. I hadn't realized I'd interrupted it. So I waited while they sang a song I'd never heard before.

A couple minutes later, a young Hispanic woman walked around the corner, looking for the door of the clinic. So I got to see my three protesters in action. They asked her what she was doing there. She was coming for a pap smear, she said, and I instantly was glad the protesters had a female among them who could tell the young woman about other clinics where she could go that wouldn't charge her for services. The young woman had said she was concerned about the cost.

Then the young woman looked at the sign the leader was holding and said she wasn't there for an abortion. Everything about her was friendly, and willing to listen to what they had to say. But the leader told her what he thought. "Don't go in there. There are other places that can help you. These people won't help you," he said.

Then the female protester gave the young woman a hug, and she walked off. The leader wasn't done, yet. "You're beautiful," he said after her.

And so I got educated. I don't know whether the young woman went inside or not because I was praying for them then. Afterward, the leader handed me his camera and asked that I take a picture of them under the sign of the clinic, which I did. Then I left.