The Ones Who Stay

Do you stay and fight or do you walk away?

I think about this often.

Stay vs. Leaving

What makes people stay and fight?

Love?

Duty?

I am a traveler and wanderer,

I don’t stay.

I’m probably the descendant of a nomadic people,

People who, if they had stayed where they were, wouldn’t have survived.

But what are the implications of always leaving?

Is it a sense of fragmentation, of not knowing where you come from?

Or the loss of security that comes with staying in one place?

Leaving can have consequences.

If you want to live, you may need to leave.

If you want to grow, you must embark on a journey.

Always looking forward because the past is behind, and the present is now.

Living in the now, you realize that the future is uncertain.

So if you stay, will you be free?

What’s more important: freedom or love?

And when you find love, will you stay and fight?

You have to be someone who is always looking forward because what’s behind is in the past and the present is now.

How do you find love?

I think about this often.

The ones who stay and fight are noble, humble people.

What compels them to stay?

Do they love to fight? Or do they stay for something else they love?

Are they staying because they’re scared or because of honor?

There’s a kind of decision one has to make.

They might decide to stay for a part of their time, then leave for some time.

Do you cling to what you’ve built or shut it all down and start over?

What happens if one comes back?

I think about this often.

This is a reflection piece from The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N. K. Jemisin.

Thanks so much for reading. Take a sip with me. ❤