This weekend, I’ll be attending the Women’s March on Washington.  Admist the preparation and the conversation and the planning that has ensued, I’ve, of course, been thinking about #whyImarch. Thinking about the number of sister marches around the country, and even the world:  616 and counting as of this writing, with over 1.3 million people planning to stand up and march. The other candidate may have won the election as far as the Electoral College is concerned, but with this “womanspirit rising” (to take the title of a now-classic by Judith Plaskow and Carol Christ), I cannot but feel hopeful.

It’s in that spirit that I offer this Meditation for a March.

Together, we march.
Women, men, children, babes-in-arms;
Those still in the womb, those still in our dreams.
Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights
And this means that
We march because underneath our differences, we are one.

One human family, together on this earth,
With more that could unite us than should divide us.
We march for the unity that connects us like a thread.
Blood, cells, sinews, bones.
Soul, spirit, hopes, dreams.

We march because the world doesn’t always remember that we are one.
I do not always remember—and I sometimes fail to see—that we are one.
I need to be reminded to see.
I march so that I can remind my children, and their children, and their children’s children.
I march so that when my spirit grows weak, I have these stories to remind myself.

I march to be uplifted by your strength.
I march because we are stronger together than we are apart.
I march because darkness will turn to light, love is stronger than hate, and courage is stronger than fear.

This is #whyImarch.