Now that I am back in school, it’s impossible to avoid the inevitable “So what did you do this summer?” small talk.  To be honest, I typically try to avoid this conversation, if at all possible.  My hope is always that the conversation will quickly become distracted from the main topic before getting to me, because if it does, then I have to explain not only how I walked across the country, but also why I walked across the country, which, for a young girl going to school in Seattle, can have a wide range of responses:

“Oh, yeah, okay, that’s cool!”

“Wait, so… You’re pro-life?”

“Uh, oookay…”

“Well, I’m super pro-choice, but I guess it’s okay if we disagree.”

And, my personal least favorite response:

“Wow.  Haha, I wish I cared about something that much.”

When someone tells me that they “wish they cared about something that much,” it takes everything in me to keep my jaw from unhinging itself and falling to the floor.  You see, I would much rather have someone combat my beliefs and start a discussion with me, because not only is it a great opportunity for other people to learn about different mindsets, but it’s also a great opportunity for me to educate myself on their views, and it’s a cool chance to explain myself.  But more than anything, I prefer this kind of response because it at least shows that they care.  Sure, they might have different beliefs than I do on how to help women or promote justice for all people, but at least both of us care enough to have a standpoint, and, as weird as it may seem, are actually united in a cause to assist women and do what we believe is right.

When someone tells me that they “wish they cared about something that much,” I can’t help but think, “Wow.  You know, maybe that’s the problem.  Maybe the reason why we face so much division in our culture and very slow change is because we simply don’t care enough.  Maybe more people ought to give a damn.”

You see, I am often times scared to share my views because I have been sold a lie that I care too much.  People often tell pro-lifers that we just “need to calm down” and “accept that abortion happens.”  They try to tell us that “nothing is going to change, because women always have, and always will, get abortions,” so therefore, there’s “no use in trying to make abortion illegal.”  Additionally, I am scared to share my views because many, if not all, of my lifestyle choices and beliefs are rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church.  This tends to make people not want to listen to me.  Often times, others immediately dismiss Catholics’ views because we have “been brainwashed,” and need to “get with the times,” because we’re “living an outdated lifestyle.”

I want everyone to know some things about me being Catholic:

1.  It is not something that I was brainwashed into.

Yes, I was raised Catholic.  But ultimately, I chose a Catholic lifestyle for myself.  I no longer live with the people that raised me in a Catholic household, but I still freely choose, under no one’s will but my own, to go to Mass, pray rosaries, ask for the intercession of saints in my daily life, and uphold Catholic values.

2.  I do not need to “get with the times.”

Catholics are normal people.  We do not feel inhibited by the “rules” of the Church, but instead freed by them.  Living life under these teachings means that we can be in the world, but not of it.  I, like most other people my age, listen to current music and shop at “trendy” stores.  I watch movies and go to music festivals.  I have many other hobbies besides praying novenas; I enjoy playing sports and reading books and going to school and hanging out with my friends.  I am in no way isolated from popular culture.  However, my firm beliefs in the Catholic Church provide me with a solid ground to determine what is right and what is wrong; it allows me to appreciate things even if I do not agree with them.

3.  I am not living an “outdated lifestyle.”

In fact, I am living an eternal lifestyle.  There’s something very fascinating about the Catholic Church, and I’ll tell you what it is: Throughout the course of history, it is one of the only things that has stood the test of time.  Sure, the things that I believe to be true are things that were believed to be true 2,000 years ago, and the things that I believe to be true will continue to be true, even 2,000 years from now.  What’s fascinating about our culture nowadays is that it has become so secular that we don’t even want to consider being religious.  Many people nowadays seem to have no hope in the world, and we have tried to fill our desires with material items, only to be disappointed.

It’s funny: We try everything out there to satiate our desires, but we can’t seem to give the Church, the one thing we haven’t tried, a chance.  On top of that, our own human pride, something that we are all subject to, refuses to let us believe that despite all of our technological and scientific advances, God may very well still exist.  In addition, our human pride has grabbed a hold of us in such a way that we cannot even fathom the idea that God loves us, so even when we are suffering and looking for someone to turn to, we do not want to admit that the relief of our pain could be found in an all-loving and eternal being.  Despite how “open-minded” we all are, we do not want to consider that these crazy people who still believe things that were taught thousands of years ago might just be on to something.  Why is this?

I’ll tell you the answer, so that you no longer have to wonder: The Catholic Church has found what is True.  And in this Truth, we have found the perfection that our souls are so desperately thirsty for.  We have found Freedom, because we have found Love.  We have found Hope.  We have found Acceptance.  People don’t want to believe these things because they are drastically different than what is taught in our culture.  The beliefs of the Catholic Church are a stark contrast to today’s views.  You see, the Truth is radical.  But it shouldn’t be.

It shouldn’t be radical that I walked across the country because I believe that abortion is wrong.  It shouldn’t be radical that we attended daily Mass.  It shouldn’t be radical to think that an objective moral compass is a necessary tool in decision-making.

It shouldn’t be radical to care.  It shouldn’t be radical to realize that every human person is worthy of love.  I should not be afraid.

After all, how else do we make change?  Every activist that has impacted history has done so because their beliefs were radical.  They took an unjust ideal and shattered it.  Martin Luther King, Jr., who, if you can’t tell by now, is probably my favorite activist/philosopher, had an idea that was radical at the time, but seems so obvious to us now.  His house was bombed and he was thrown in jail, but he refused to let go of what he knew was true and what he knew was right.  Martin Luther King, Jr. cared.  He cared about not only his own generation, but about generations to come.

There is no such thing as caring too much.  My ideas are radical because I care.  I walked across the country because I care.  I wrote this sort of run-on, not entirely cohesive, probably too long, and sort of rant-y, blog post because I care.  And I care because I know that I have to, despite how unconventional it may seem.  I care because I know that doing so will make change.  I care because I know that the only things that can stop Evil are Truth and Love.

“Wow.  Haha, I wish I cared about something that much.”

Really?  Do you?  Then why don’t you?  Here’s something else that’s radical: We wish that we cared about things because the very nature of caring about things is ingrained in us.  We were made to love.  In every individual human life, we see something that is also a part of us.  In our souls, we hunger for perfection, and we know what is right and what is wrong.  But in the lies of our society, we have been told that perfection does not exist.  We have been told that truth is relative.  We have been told that human life is an object.  These things are not true.

In radical Truth, we find Hope.  We find answers.  We find Peace even though we are afraid.  We realize that is okay to be human; it is okay to love.  In short, it’s okay to care.  We are capable of so much more than destruction and hate.  Caring makes us vulnerable, but in our vulnerability, we become very real.  We gain the ability to look at our fellow man and say, “Really, you too?  I thought I was the only one.”

In radical Truth, I am strong enough to share my ideas even though others may disagree.  I have nothing to be afraid of.  In radical Truth, I learn that I am not the only one.  In radical Truth, I know that we can change.  I know that we can care.  In radical Truth, I know that we can love.