Get In Gear.
“Get yourself in gear.
Keep your stride.
Never mind your fears.
Brighter days will soon be here.
Take it from me, someday we'll all be free.”
- Donny Hathaway
You should also know that my desire to move abroad wasn’t rooted in the urgency to leave this smoldering dumpster fire.
Nah.
My “why” was a deeper, more ingrained desire: a lifelong dream.
Since I could remember, I’ve fantasized about what it would be like to live somewhere else.
Somewhere outside of the country I didn't choose.
I was genuinely curious about other languages, cultures, cuisine, sights and sounds in the destinations I'd often watch on the Travel Channel at Nat Geo with my dad.
I also wondered if there were places on earth where my skin tone was celebrated instead of treated punitively.
Were there places in the world where something so unchangeable about me was considered a divine gift instead of an unfavorable life sentence?
Was there anywhere on God's green earth where my melanin meant limitlessness instead of automatic confinement to certain narratives and outcomes?