The Apology I Will Never Give

Love should lift, not shrink. It should feel like open air, not a locked room. And yet, there are times when affection becomes a cage—a measure of control disguised as care. I have learned to notice the small ways love can diminish us: the subtle insistence on compliance masked as compromise, the quiet erosion of…

Power does not always arrive in a tailored suit or with a title printed neatly on an office door. Sometimes it walks in wearing sneakers and laughing so loudly the room can’t help but turn toward it. Sometimes it wears a headwrap and speaks with a voice so soft you have to lean in—and then…

Neutrality is often praised as wisdom, as maturity, as fairness. We’re told that staying out of the fight is the dignified choice—that it makes us “above the fray.” But I’ve learned that neutrality is not a lack of position. It is a position. Neutrality is a choice—one that often protects comfort over truth. It is…

A name is not just a label—it is a story. It carries the echoes of ancestors, the hopes of parents, the weight of culture. It is a thread that ties you to where you come from, even when the world tries to pull it loose. To mispronounce a name is not merely a slip of…

It is often the smallest gestures that leave the deepest marks. A quiet word of encouragement when we’re doubting ourselves. A door held open when our hands are full. A hand offered—not because it was asked for, but because someone noticed we were slipping. I have learned that greatness does not always roar. Sometimes it…

We carry different versions of ourselves like separate rooms in a house. Some are bright and loud—filled with music, with the kind of laughter that shakes the walls. Others are quiet, lined with books and soft light, where we speak in low tones only to the ones who truly listen. We move between these rooms…