A deep well of wisdom lies in proverbs. The complexities of the modern era are still driven by the same forces from a millennia ago. Let us remember who we are and that we are the hope.
A deep well of wisdom lies in proverbs.
Every emotion, every burden, and every joy has been borne by those who came before us. A truth often obscured as we live our life, focusing on the nuances of our generation. Day after day we are confronted with a barrage of news and opinions, a complex tapestry with an erudite spin.
The triumphs and failures of humanity will not begin nor end within the constraints of our first breath and our last. History we will write, with all its intricacies, is no more convoluted than any other period of time. After all, while the moves and players evolve and morph, the drivers behind those actions remain unchanged. Love and hatred, humility and greed, mercy and power are but a few examples of forces that motivate and deter.
All of us are survivors, every…single…one.
The very nature of our existence is both miraculous and inexplicable. Both the lull of comfort and peace and the frenzy and fury of the moment cleverly work in tandem to distract from all that has transpired over millennia.
Thousands upon thousands of years of famine, disease, disaster, and war--and yet here we stand. We are the hope. We are the possibility. We are the dream.
In the long dark nights, when whispered prayers were lifted from lips weak with worry, they pleaded for survival. For a better tomorrow. For a future for their children.
We are those children.
We are the answers to prayers from time long past.
The title of this post is not arbitrary, it is part of a Roma proverb. For those of you who may be unaware, Roma, Romani, or Rom are all terms that refer to the same ethnic group. The term that most people associate them with is in fact a racial slur. A slur originating from when uninformed people assumed they came from Egypt. Their history has been long and tortured, over a thousand years of it. Cast out, enslaved, persecuted, murdered, sterilized, denied basic human rights. Even to this very day.
The full Roma proverb is “Bury me standing; I’ve been on my knees my whole life.”
Allow the depth of that statement to soak into your soul.
History is rife with those who were denied dignity for the entirety of their life. Their struggle, their existence, has meaning. May the dignity that eluded them in life be granted to them in death.
Remind yourself of the people you come from, their resilience, their endurance, and their spirit. You are a descendant, their hope for tomorrow. Your bone and sinew, your very marrow, is formed from their struggle and strength.
Hold your head high.
You are a survivor.
And the hope.
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