Remember: A Letter to Humanity

Remember your roots, your humble beginnings.

Remember your inexorable end.

We are all, every one of us, born as a tiny, helpless, ignorant creature. We all will breathe our final breath.

We are, each of us, the same. We begin. We end. We live the moments in between. In this, our equality is established.

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Remember your commonalities,

your interconnected tethers.

We all search the earth and skies, on our journeys through life. Grasping for meaning, joy, and purpose.

We all succeed, we all fail, in our own particular ways.

We all breathe, bleed, weep, and laugh. Each of us love, hate, and yearn to belong.

Our hearts beat in tandem, trodding a well-worn road. We travel alone, yet undeniably linked. Individually distinct, yet tangled together. In a complex dance, fused as one.

~

Remember your humanity,

your imperfections, your weaknesses.

We all fight the battles of flesh-bound beings. We know our limits. We dread the dark.

We each endure the ravages of bone-chilling fear, in all its glittering shades of gray. We know the gnawing anxiety. We suffer through the pain of loneliness, as if invisible in a sea of color, or stranded on an undiscovered planet. We burn to feel the smallest cooling draft of tender compassion wash over us.

We all feel the heavy chains of depression, hopelessness, inescapable despair. We rage over the sorrows, the injustices, the betrayals of body and soul.

We each become creatures of our own making, born of desperation. Shrewd masters of illusion, architects of smoke and shadow.

We all struggle through the chaos and clamor. We all scrape and claw to break free of our mortal cage, until finally surrendering to the ephemeral beauty of its spherical bars.

~

Remember your hopes, your dreams,

your wish-fulfilling triumphs.

We all, every one of us, have a secret dream. We have all heard the call of unexplored realms.

We all seek that place of unfettered vision, long for the satisfaction of a life well-lived.

We all experience the will of indomitable grit and determination, forging new paths across seas and deserts, through drifts and mist.

We all dwell under the weight of unrealized potential and expectant purpose. We plan, we strategize, we embark, we endeavor. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail.

We each know intimately the boyant joy of an actualized goal, the triumph of an aspiration materializing into solid form. The cautious hope of a brightening horizon, its warming rays caressing our cheeks, chasing shadows into oblivion.

~

Remember your differences,

your irreplaceable individuality.

We are each unique beings, stamped with incalculable worth. We each bear the priceless image of a love beyond comprehension.

We come from a source, ancient and strong. Our inherent value cannot be lost or reduced, nor our individuality bought, traded, stolen, or duplicated.

We are each the same, yet worlds apart. Our myriad facets, features, and quirks find their origins in novel alien lands.

We all possess the print of an indispensable identification, an essential piece in the puzzle of life.

We each find our own place in this fractured world, like shards of colored glass in a stained window. Like threads in a tapestry, wide and beautiful, we each contribute a strand to the unfurling picture.

~

Remember the paradox of your individual wholeness.

Remember the power of your independent fusion.

We are helpless without one another, lost in the dark. We cannot exist in consummate fullness, unless we embrace our parallel pain, need, joy, and success and commit to raise one another up with unconditional arms of support.

We are wrapped in an inextricable, inexplicable bond of singular strength and kindred spirit. When one falls, all fall. When one rises, all rise. When one suffers, all suffer. When one triumphs, all triumph.

We are many . . . we are one.

We are weak . . . we are strong.

We are broken . . . we are resilient.

We laugh, we cry . . . we live, we die.

Most of all, we are human. Resolute . . . unconquerable. Ever on the cusp of magnificent promise.

Remember your life, your death, your history, your future.

Remember the present moment and your yet untapped potential.

Remember your humanity.

Remember this, and do not forget.

Remember this, and live.

Remember.