Unbreakable

I wish I could have told you this in person. But alas, life. Historians know all too well about silences in the historical record. What’s one more?

In all the pomp and circumstance a glaring silence remained. A subject unacknowledged.

No one said unbreakable.

To bear witness to unbreakability is life-changing. How can words dare explain? In the past six years, amidst trauma at all levels, shapes, and sizes, I bore witness to strength. Strength, too, came in all forms. It came in direct and indirect association. But what all had in common was youth. Strength among the young, those life callously tried to break. Some faced obstacles the whole world knew about. Others had to face challenges in private that only a few knew about. None let those obstacles defeat them. None broke.

Young people amidst trauma, amidst suffering, amidst pain, rising anyway. What became evident to anyone paying attention was a group of students who refined the boundaries of resilience.

Yet, no one said unbreakable.

You went through hell and yet you smiled. You endured unimaginable pain and still managed to be kind. If life ever has the audacity to test you the way it did during the past six years, let it. In learning how not to break, you learned the possibilities of what you can handle. You have nothing to fear. Hurt people hurt people until they don’t. You didn’t.

Someone should have said unbreakable.

Much more can be said but need not. To have borne witness to the resilience of such a remarkable group of people is a privilege like no other. To have shared in your joy and pain is to have shared the very essence of what it means to be human.

Because no one said unbreakable, let it be said. If ever a reminder is needed, find those who bore witness to the unbreakability. Rest assured we will never forget.