brave with my life

someone once told me

“you must be brave with your life

so that others may be brave with theirs.”

 

brave with my life.

 

i see two things.

people obsessed with status, with money, with possessions.

and people struggling with nothing.

 

i see people complaining about not having the latest iphone,

and i see people being illegally detained and subjected to

forced interrogation techniques.

 

and i realized that the only way

i could live my life

was to use my privilege to help others.

 

my life is not my own,

i will give myself up in the service of others.

because if i didn’t

and i lived in service of myself,

i would not survive for long.

 

sometimes, it’s hard to have faith.

it seems impossible to trust that it will all work out.

i have had conversations with the universe:

“exactly why is my chosen career path

so expensive

so hard

so ridiculed?”

but i have given up my life, and i know that because i have given up my life, people will be free from torture, and released from slavery. they will have clean water, and a place to sleep, and a hospital to deliver babies and be treated when they’re sick. people will be able to speak and be heard, they will lift themselves from poverty. this is the ultimate fight, the protection of human rights.

 

i want to be invisible,

working quietly to open doors and

even though it will be hard,

i can ask for nothing more from the universe.

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