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Promise of dawn
Freedom’s steep price
Raw history reveals
-安天美
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I walked where my ancestors walked, but they wore chains while I wore shoes. At Badagri, the past is not a story in a book. It is a place you can touch with your hands. The wind there carries voices. The ground remembers footsteps. When I stood there, history became real in a way I never felt before.
The people who were taken from this shore still found ways to create songs, stories, and hope. They passed down strength through blood and memory. I hear them asking: "Now that your hands are free, what will you make with them?" This question follows me home like a quiet friend.
My freedom looks like books I can read, thoughts I can speak, places I can go. These are not small things. These are treasures that many before me died wanting. When I compare my life to those who stood at Badagri waiting for ships, I see how rich I am in chances.
Every morning I wake to choices they never had. I can learn anything. I can build new things. I can speak truth without fear. This freedom is not just mine to enjoy. It came at great cost. The people who suffered ask only that I use it well, that I create something good with what they could only dream about.
The sun that rose as I left home that morning was the same sun that has watched over Badagri for centuries. It saw the worst of human cruelty. Now it watches me decide what to do with my day, my life, my mind. This is what dawn means, not just a new day but a new chance.
If people in chains could still make beauty, still keep hope alive, still pass down wisdom to children they might never see grow up, what might I do with all my freedom? This question is not heavy. It is light pushing through clouds. It is the promise that what I build today matters. It is understanding that the new dawn belongs to me, but also to them.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/backward_blue.svg" alt="/icons/backward_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Keep Working
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<aside> <img src="/icons/forward_blue.svg" alt="/icons/forward_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Good Rest
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