This year in Washington, D.C. at the annual march for life there was not a single snowflake. In place of that were at least half a million excited people of all ages, children for whom this was their first experience, as well as veterans—those who return again and again for the crusade that has spanned forty-four years.

What struck me perhaps most of all on my first journey to this event was the implicit friendship that seems to develop out of thin-air between the myriads of people who attend—and what myriads they were! As I report, it seems that the numbers surpassed, but were around the 500,000 mark. However, the numbers alone were unable to communicate the breath-taking site as one mounted Capitol Hill—looking up at the crowds above, but always with a sea of people at your back. There certainly was a unity that pervades the masses of people as they look toward a common endpoint—an endpoint that is ultimately the abolition of abortion. In addition, whatever can be said of the younger generations of America, many appear to be pro-life, evidenced by the charisma they displayed during the walk from the Washington Monument to the Supreme Court. For instance, our group came into contact with a group from North Carolina after ascending Capitol Hill. Excited to see another youth group there, they chanted a little ditty to us, which, without hesitation, we returned and returned and returned again as they kept repeating it to us.

Washington, D.C. is a place unlike any other. Surrounded by the many memorials and monuments, which our group had the privilege to explore after the youth conference on Saturday, one feels as if he is participating in something as old as 1776, and, to a certain degree, one is. The people gathered there are not just Catholics—though many are—nor are they simply witnesses to the unborn. The men, women, and children who march are also fully American and exercising the rights described to the people in the first amendment. This year—above all others—was a triumph in this regard. This year, for the first time in the long history of the march, the white house—in the form of vice president Pence—recognized the efforts that are nearing the length of a half-century. There is seldom something to thank those in office for—perhaps more seldom in the pro-life movement—but on the day of the march, there was. The government—for all its flaws—may be slightly nearer to recognizing the legitimacy of the evil of abortion.

Of course, we cannot put our hope in mundane powers, but in the invisible souls whose transformation is necessary. In this, the happiness, the joy of service that is evident in the young will be much needed. During the march, which is, as I realized, rather long and tiring, similar chants to the one previously described would rise and then fall, being taken up by different groups. As that North Carolina group of youths and so many others demonstrated as they shouted loudly for life, one can still have spirit after the grueling ascent of Capitol Hill. This is what is most fascinating about many of the young’s happiness: the hardness of the march, the distance and the cold weather, do not freeze up their eagerness to carry forward. It is not just the young, however, but all the people who witness to life who demonstrate this happiness. In this very witness, the answer lies. It is because the marchers promote life that they are able to be happy. They realize the beauty of life that allows them to be there, and for this they are joyful. It is cheering to see half-a-million people moving at once and all of them eagerly—but, at the same time, it is inevitable, it is simply a manifestation of the life within.