I once was a slave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To other masters, certainly;<\/p>\n
But mostly to myself,<\/p>\n
And that was the tragedy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I did not rise with the day.<\/p>\n
I did not rise with anything:<\/p>\n
(When one is constantly down<\/p>\n
One does not easily get up).<\/p>\n
And if I did set with the night,<\/p>\n
I definitely did not set right.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I slaved in many forms and conforms:<\/p>\n
Chains came in infinite verities, fences<\/p>\n
In countless patterns. I was locked into<\/p>\n
A certain mentality, jailed in a prison<\/p>\n
Where I was the key \u2013 and barred from<\/p>\n
My own self.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am no longer ashamed \u2013<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I once was a slave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These are the journeys of
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
The Children of Israel
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Who left the land of Egypt<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have long since left slavery behind me;<\/p>\n
From the land of con-strained breathing<\/p>\n
To the land of broad horizons, I have<\/p>\n
Journeyed long and hard: long not necessarily<\/p>\n
In tape measures; hard not necessarily in surfaces.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now I travel light \u2013<\/p>\n
Lit-erally:<\/p>\n
Darkness has no place on these roads.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I travel light but also carry a lot of weight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These are the journeys\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not journey singular; journeys plural.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I once was a slave<\/p>\n
And if I stop now I will become a slave again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One journey from slavery makes me free only<\/p>\n
Until that freedom becomes the norm, then its<\/p>\n
Time to move on and become free again: that\u2019s<\/p>\n
The way freedom works \u2013 once it stops being<\/p>\n
Earned,<\/p>\n
It stops being.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are people in flux, people of flow \u2018n\u2019 ebb:<\/p>\n
What may be freedom for a slave can be slavery<\/p>\n
For a master, what may be new and exciting to a<\/p>\n
Novice may be dull and arbitrary to an expert \u2013<\/p>\n
Growth never stops, lest it be known on the street<\/p>\n
As Pause<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No matter how much one accomplished yesterday,<\/p>\n
\u2018Tis still a confine in the light of what one can do today.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A journey begins, a journey ends \u2013 only to begin again.<\/p>\n
A book begins, a book ends \u2013 only to begin again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A journey, a book begins:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
G-d spoke to Moshe
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
In the Wilderness of Sinai<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the desert wilderness many journeys,<\/p>\n
Through birth and childhood, adolescence<\/p>\n
And adulthood, parenthood and mid-life<\/p>\n
Crisis, graying hair and satisfaction, old-<\/p>\n
Age and young spirit, we\u2019ve journeyed<\/p>\n
And journey on\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A journey, a book ends:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the plains of Moab
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
At the Jordan, by Jericho<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally to reach the river, the<\/p>\n
Border of the Land of Promise<\/p>\n
The Promised Land\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A journey, a book begins again<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And again\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Chazak Chazak\u00a0V’nitchazek<\/i><\/p>\n
\n