The Wrestling Team

I stood alone outside the high school football field. My sign of aborted babies and I faced the school exit. Heart thumping in my chest, I was filled with fear, adrenalin, and, in an odd way, excitement. The bell rang. I heard shouts of relieved students across the campus. The entire school’s wrestling team was coming my way. “Great,” I thought, “now not only will they be angry, they’ll also be wrestlers.”

They came up to me with angry voices and a distinct lack of reason for this anger. They began to kick at my sign and one of them grabbed hold of it so as to lower it to the ground. I inspected the area for anyone filming but no one was. I began to reach for my phone to take pictures but to my relief, about four of the kids on the wrestling team chimed in, “Dude, that’s not cool” “he’s got the freedom of speech, leave him alone.” Another one said “I don’t care, this shouldn’t be in my face.” “If you walked away it wouldn’t be in your face”

Fortunately for me, they heard the logic in what their classmates were saying and walked away, even if they wouldn’t hear the same from me. After they left, I was given the chance to talk to the young men who stuck up for me, and they were interested to hear me. All four of them thanked me for being there, and took a pamphlet, promising to read it cover to cover.

Even with the interactions I had that day, these four kids made the stress worth it. At first, the students disagreed with my message but recognized the right I had to express it. In the end, they agreed with all that I had to say and walked away with a different point of view.