To the Humans We Often Forget to Celebrate

There’s a group of people I’ve been thinking about lately. A group rarely applauded, barely acknowledged, yet they carry more than many of us can imagine.

This post is for them.

You're worth every single letter in this piece.

I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted to think of you as more than human. To assume that you don’t feel pain the way the rest of us do. That, instead of blood, it’s some kind of pressurized gas that flows through your veins. That you were molded, not from the soft matter like the rest of us, but from gravel mixed with cement.

So we assume you're strong.

We assume strength, even when weakness is tattooed across your forehead.

We assume resilience, even when your shoulders slump under the weight of silent burdens.

We assume you can handle it, even when the pressure at work is squeezing the life out of you.

We assume you’re the provider, even when you’re scraping the bottom of an empty cup.

And somehow, you still manage to give.

To show up.

To keep going.

Sometimes I pause and ask myself:

• Do they even find time to cry;  to let those tears fall, the ones that brim silently behind tired eyes?

• Do they have anyone who listens without judging?

• Do they have a place;  a person; where they can simply be without needing to perform or pretend?

Do they have a High Priest who truly sees their struggles, not just on the surface, but deep within?

I wonder. I truly do.

Because at a closer look, beneath the layers of ‘strength’ and ‘provider’ and ‘they’ll be fine’...

They are human.

They bleed.

They break.

They fall.

They cry when no one is watching.

They dream, even when the world tells them not to.

They love, even when their hearts have been broken too many times.

So today, I pause;  just for a moment, to celebrate them.

To say:

I see you.

I honour your strength.

But I also acknowledge your weakness.

I know you give. But I hope you’re poured into too.

You are not just a pillar; you are a person.

Flesh and blood.

Real.

Human.

✍The Expression Voice