Eternal

The city lays silent

Not the kind of restful silence you find during sunrise on a Saturday morning; rather, the kind that strikes you in your core, something truly morbid

And maybe it is…

A moment of silence for the loss of every soul, hope, dream, expectation, for every life taken by a force that feels so much stronger than we are

A force strong enough to penetrate every form of life as we know it

How is it possible that something so small can make me feel minuscule and powerless?

As I walk in this city, once filled with so much life, a forbidden fear crawls up my spine, for I am forced to imagine a world without life

What are lungs without air to fill them if nothing but empty space.

As I stood there in my thoughts, the silence traversed on with no end in sight, and I felt that I needed to breathe words into the air in hopes that the words would maybe breathe life into me. So as my head began to fall, I mustered up the courage to say something hopeful in a time devoid of faith, but the only thing that came out from my defeated lips was:

“I don’t know if I can survive this.”

Suddenly a voice came from the horizon, a voice prevailing enough to shatter the morbid silence:

You will survive this my child. Don’t you see? Your spirit is eternal 

Infinite

Godly

 Unlike any other kind I have seen 

For it was your spirit that fought battles and wars

And it was your spirit that writhed in pain while fulfilling its duty

It was your spirit that pulled burning people out of buildings

It was your spirit that took bullets in the chest to protect the backs of others

It was your spirit that ended slavery

It was your spirit that jumped into the fiery wrath of Mother Earth to save innocent animals

It was your spirit that survived those crashing planes

It was your spirit that showed the power of love and equality

It was your spirit that kept going even after you lost your loved ones forever

It is your spirit that breaks repeatedly, yet finds a way to love completely unhindered

It was your spirit that cured the sick and saved the dying

It is still your spirit that is showing up day after day to fight this fight in unity, no matter the costs

It was your spirit that was beaten, bruised, and thrashed then, and it is your spirit that is being tortured now

Above all, it was your spirit that survived then, with its chest out and head held high, and it is your spirit that will survive now. 

My sweet children, don’t you see, there is nothing stronger than the human spirit. I never intended there to be. 

You are eternal.

You take the unknown and the uncertainty, and you make it your own. 

This is the truest form of being alive. You are alive.

For you are finding a world within yourself even when the world around you is collapsing. 

Breathe. Live. Let the silence fill your lungs like air. Do not fear this as a threat to your existence; you are more alive than you have ever been.

 

And now, if you listen carefully… it isn’t silent anymore.