All You Need is Love

This weekend we drove 445 miles to take part in one of the largest marches to have ever taken place: The Women’s March on Washington. I walked nine miles with childhood friends and my family as we took to the streets, chanting with big pink signs, in Washington DC. We wore pussy hats knitted by my great aunt Mary and by a former neighbor who sent a bag full of hats to hand out along the way.

We spent the day voicing our support for women, human rights, and human decency. And one large theme stuck out among all of the others. Love.

Along the march routes, there were people standing along the sides in protest. Protests like this often invite a counterprotest, seeing this as a good time to have their voices heard as well. In each of these instances, protester vs protester,  something miraculous happened; people were not fighting fire with fire. Peace and love prevailed.

Early on, I was walking through the crowd when I spotted one of the iconic red hats, “Make America Great Again.” The man was screaming and cursing in the center of a sea of pink hats. I grew nervous as I walked closer and could hear him asking what everyone was doing here. What were people saying back to him? Would this become violent? And then I heard how people were responding. Saying things like, “Have a great day” and “Enjoy the rest of your time in DC.” No one gave into this man’s anger. People remained calm and kept pushing their voice of love.

Further along there was a group of pro-life demonstrators carrying large signs, voicing their disapproval of abortions. They stood along the side yelling their agenda. Marchers walking past grew louder yelling, “My body, my choice”. At the point of passing them by, you could barely hear the voices of those who disagreed with the marchers, as we shouted louder, keeping our wits about us and moving forward.

 Then on our way back to the house, leaving the march, there was a group of men with megaphones, broadcasting the idea that being gay was against God. Using religion as a way to validate their hate, they were spouting biblical verses. In an instant, a group of gay men and lesbian women began to dance in front of them. They wore pants with the LGBTQ+ flag on them, and they had painted their bodies with slogans and symbols promoting inclusion and Gay Rights. They didn’t argue with the validity of these people’s ideas. They used the space to express who they are. They ignored the hate. People cheered and gathered in a circle around them playing music from speakers. The loudspeaker was drowned out by the music and cheering. Soon it was just a group of people dancing in the street that these men had simply gotten caught up in.

In every instance, screams of hate were lost in a sea of love. There wasn’t room for negativity. Fighting fire with fire gets you nowhere. Fighting fire with love will create a climate of change. So while we continue to stand up against the homophobic, sexist, racist, transphobic, and islamophobic ideas our current President represents, this march reminded me to hold onto the love we create when we stand together for one another. Love always has and always will find a way to drown out hate. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said so many years ago, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Tags: Politics, womensmarch