Warriors.
We are warriors.
From the depth of despair, to the highest peak, we are warriors.
From the murky, decaying straw beds in the camps, to the rickety & decrepit freight trains.
From the gravel that seemed to seep from beneath us on those dreadful death marches, to the heaps, mounds and stacks of lifeless yet innocent bodies in the mass graves.
From the days without nourishment, the life without love,
We are warriors.
—
We have always been warriors.
From the very first day, of not just the excruciating, gruelling war, that spares no soul,
But from the very first day of our lives, too.
That singular moment of birth shaped the course of our life, unbeknownst to us entirely.
We had no notion of the horrific days to come. We had no notion that the very jewel of our identity would become a target for hate, crime and rancour.
We had no notion of the battle we would be forced into, without consent or care.
We had no notion of the battle that would kill many and destroy more, for years and years to come, generations later, children and elderly alike…
We have always been warriors. Through and through.
Fighting for the single breath that had been denied to us from that very first day.
—
We are warriors.
Fighting to be seen, heard, accepted.
Through the toughest times. Through great turmoil, unhappiness, loss.
We continue to fight, we continue to push, and we continue to question.
Why is it that our existence is rejected?
Why is it that you can live, love, and laugh,
While we must struggle, compete and fight, just for a single breath?
—
We will always be warriors.
For the fight is not over,
The pain, the turmoil, the agony. It is not over.
The memories stay,
Etched in our mind. A plague we cannot rid ourselves from.
The memories always stay. Yet, with the fight,
The memories cannot be rewritten, but the future can be.
We will have to fight,
For our voices to be heard, for our names to be illuminated.
For our existence to be recognised, accepted and celebrated.
The fight is our future. It is in our hands.
We can carve, sculpt and adapt it. We can walk our own path.
The fight grants freedom.
And so, we will go into the fight,
Blazing, fearless, valiant.
They have tried to stop us before,
They have tried everything. Burning, shunning, represing.
But we will not be silenced. We will not be neglected. We will not be repressed.
Not anymore.
We will rise, like a phoenix, and we will be heard.
We will stay strong. We will stay vigilant. We will stay true.
We are warriors, and nobody can take that from us.
