By Fredi D’Alessio
I will never forget my pilgrimage to ‘calvary’ in Pinellas Park, Florida on behalf of my sister Terri and her family. I was so very blessed to have been able to be there to support them and to advocate for Terri’s right to life. I cherish them and the people who stood in solidarity with them, mostly having come from long distances. Of the many fine people I was privileged to meet, I remember with special fondness a young family of eight from Ohio who put aside every other concern and without much planning hurriedly loaded their van with bare essentials and began the long drive to Pinellas Park.
Along with harboring warm feelings for the Schindler family and their supporters, my heart grieves Terri’s cold-blooded murder. Being present at the scene of that crime – in the midst of or close by the victims, the intervenors, the perpetrators, the politicians, the police, and the news media – subjected my whole being to a rivalry of emotions and a variety of experiences and encounters. But rather than reflect on what being there was like, I have chosen to reflect on what being there was about.
