By Clara Berut-Lhopital
PROMPT — I will not rest until ...
Every single one of us can be who they are.
I will not rest until everyone can find belonging as well as freedom. Until who we are is enough, enough to be respected, supported, treated with dignity.
I will not rest until every single one of us is free and loved.
I cannot continue to imagine a world where only some people are deserving of humanity, love and happiness.
I cannot continue to imagine a world where some of us are some of them. And them is dangerous.
I cannot continue to imagine a world where dominance is the way we relate. Where there is just one correct way to be human.
It breaks my heart.
So I will not rest until everyone can explore what it means to be human in their own terms. Until our life choices are really ours and really choices. Until every single one of us is safe to find their way and themselves.
Until being alive is the only requirement. Until no one is made wrong for how they feel or how life expresses itself through them, for what they think or what they desire.
Until we can be soft and kind enough with ourselves and others.
Until we can revere life in every form it takes.
Until we all know we have a space here.
Until we stop being afraid of a difference that is here to enrich and never suppress.
Until it's okay to have our own unique needs and limits.
Until we can let go of what should be, to let ourselves be.
Until no one is to be enslaved, transformed, tamed, shamed, destroyed for who they are.
I will not rest until...
Every single one of us can be who they are. Can be celebrated for who they are. Loved for who they are. Cared for who they are.
Clara Berut-Lhopital is a teacher, translator and writer living between France and the UK. In her writing she reflects on what it means to be human in this world. She wants her words to be a celebration, a recognition of who we are, a still, small voice telling you: "It's okay to be who you are."