Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Day 22 - not alone

i can't stop thinking about her.
It bothers me that so many women are picked up in a taxi - alone. The circumstances that brought them to that clinic weren't entered into alone... & yet they're left to be picked up from a building that takes the life of their tiny child by a yellow cab with a stranger driving it.
This girl made me ache differently. She didn't close her eyes and lay against the window like i've seen some do. She stared out the window at us - eyes blank, face expressionless. It seemed to take forever for the cab to get turned around onto the road, and when he did, he was going the wrong way and i quickly realized that they were going to have to drive past us again...
"oh, honey..." i breathed as again... she stared wide-eyed out the window at us before the cab passed us and melted into the traffic pulling onto crowchild.
Words. Why aren't we allowed to exchange words?  Words are so much easier to understand than signs, than a perplexing presence, than silence and a half smile...
God, let her remember me. Let her remember that the whole world didn't turn it's back that day... let her remember that there was no anger on our faces, or aggression in our stance... let her remember feeling loved - from people who were full of mercy... Your love, Your mercy...
As she walked a path she never should have walked, alone.

3 comments:

  1. Love this. I feel the same way....like I wish I could rip my heart out and let them feel how it aches and bleeds for them. It's so hard when we can say nothing and to be standing so far away...not knowing if I should smile or cry or just how to express my love.

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  2. Thank you for your witness.

    Is there no sidewalk counsellor? Perhaps you should look into one. Sidewalk counselling is acceptable during 40 Days.

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  3. Suzanne - unfortunately, my understanding of the court injunction in Calgary is that *nobody* is allowed to speak (unless spoken to). We have to be located on the other side of the street, so reaching out would be difficult - even if we were allowed to speak... i've had the opportunity to speak to many people who have asked us what 40 Days for Life is about - but we're very restricted by the "bubble zone" injunction here.

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