(Photo: Na’ama Yehuda)
If he could make it there, he’d make it anywhere.
It was the axiom he had placed everything on.
He held on to the promise when his body hurt from beatings. He played the image of it in his mind when emptiness of heart and stomach kept him from shut-eye. He whispered small encouragements to himself to drown the insults that insisted he was nothing.
For he was. Someone.
He had to believe.
The words she said.
About where he could be.
Himself.
If he lived.
So he did.
And lit beneath storm clouds, she stood, waiting.
For the day.
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers (Thank you for using my photo as a prompt this week!)
Na'ama Yehuda 
I like the formatting you used to bring impact to your message. I believe it is a dream big enough for all.
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Thank you! Yes, it is a dream that sustained many over centuries, and hasn’t changed much for those who still dream it, even if the some of the descendants of those who had managed to fulfill it, had forgotten their own stories. Perhaps more will remember.
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You’re welcome, Na’ama.
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🙂
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This is powerful. An anthem to hope and love.
For me it stands in the same league as Konstantin Simonov’s. “Wait For Me”
Well done
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Wow! I’m humbled by the praise. And yes, to the anthem of hope and love. Always.
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Always.
Keep on keeping on
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Nodding and keeping on keeping on … 😉
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👌👍
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😀
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It’s a good thing he’s tough enough to keep pushing because he’s up against quite a huge obstacle
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Yes, and yet it hadn’t stopped others from dreaming – and many from achieving – before. It is human nature, and it is what had built so much in the world. Hopes for better, sometimes hanging by a thread, and yet …
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This is powerful. An anthem to hope and love.
For me it stands in the same league as Konstantin Simonov’s. “Wait For Me”
Well done
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🙂 Yay again! 🙂 I’m VERY happy for double the praise.
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My pleasure- Though the double was down to WP being goofy…. Still even WP can get something right.😉
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Ah, and there I thought it was a “double the praise special”… 😉 (Yeah, I had had duplicate comments I’d written post after one ‘refused’ only to show up anyway … ;)). Thank you for persisting! 🙂
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With an attitude like this he will get there.
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Amen to that, Liz! We must hope he will, and even more, that he won’t face obstacles by those who had forgotten their own ancestors path.
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I liked the terse and stripped down style of this
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Thank you, Neil! 🙂 It almost wrote itself that way. …
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Na’ama Y’karah,
We did go in similar directions. Emma Lazarus’ poem should be required reading, shouldn’t it? Love the way you wrote this. I wish him well.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle. And indeed, yes, it ought to be required reading and re-reading and revisiting and exploring the meaning of. Love it that we went a similar direction. 🙂 Na’ama
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Your format suggests a blend of poetry and prose, and it’s very effective. An affirmation of self-worth can motivate through great hardships and your story describes that very effectively.
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Amen to affirmations of one’s worth. By self. By others. I’m glad it resonated! Thanks for the great comment, Penny!
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Sheer determination can help one succeed where many others have failed. This is a powerful reminder of that. Well done.
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Thank you, and so true! We all of us need something to believe in, someone to believe in us. 🙂
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Beautiful photos and a wonderful message.
I can imagine my ancestors gazing at her as they arrived here.
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Indeed. I imagine many had to, and I can only imagine how she looked after weeks (sometimes months) at sea following months (if not years and lifetime) of hardship leading to even the possibility of crossing.
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Oh this was good, Miss Na’ama! Powerful and full of hopes and dreams. I, too, love the format you used.
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Yay! I’m so glad it communicated what I had felt when I wrote it. It is not a given that it does. Thank you for this feedback, my friend! 🙂
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Oh, it does alrighty!
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🙂 So glad! 🙂
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🙂 🙂
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A very emotional piece. Well done.
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Thank you, Mason! I’m gratified it resonated.
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You’re welcome.
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Beautifully written.
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Thank you, Jude!
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my pleasure.
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🙂
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This is both, powerful and beautiful. And shamefull for all of us everywhere that the pain of being nothing still exists in too many places for too many people.
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So true! And it is a shame that so many still are being called and treated as ‘nothing’ even when they reach the places where they believed they’d be able to be accepted. We have a lot to work on, as humanity goes, to be better humans to each other.
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Amen! Europe has too many shameful stories to tell about that.
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So does the US. …
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A powerful piece skillfully written Na’ama.
Thanks for the photo – so good I had to use it twice!
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Thank you, Keith! I’m so glad you found it powerful!
I’ll be reading others’ submissions later today and tomorrow, and will be on the look out for your two!! 😀
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Succinct and powerful! It’s amazing what you can do with 100 words. Well done!
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Thank you so much for this feedback! I’m gratified that the little piece communicated. Thank you for taking the time to read AND to comment. 🙂
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A powerful story, and thank you for sharing the photo with us.
Ronda
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Thank you, Ronda! Wasn’t that a moment to capture?! It was an April afternoon with my niece and family and the sky was ominously dramatic and breathtakingly beautiful. 🙂
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Courage, endurance, resilience – they’re all there. And the format you’ve used at the end – I can just feel the determination in it. Powerful! I love it.
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Thank you! I am so glad these all got communicated, as they were certainly intended to be woven into the words. Great comment! 🙂
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what an inspiration. thank you for sharing.
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Thank YOU! 🙂
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The words used here are familiar. I heard similar words said by North Korean defectors to the South when I was over there. Well done in capturing the essence of one fleeing to a new hope.
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Thank you, Miles! Indeed this is the story of refugees of all kinds, anyplace. May there be new hope!
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First, thanks for the awesome photo. Then, could you please pass the tissues… this story really pricked my heart and I need to save it. Love how you’ve woven this story. So stark and strong. Please be safe this week.
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Aw! Thank you! Am passing the tissues, gladly. Thank you for this touching and supportive comment! 🙂
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The power of hope and dreams. Nice one and thank you for sharing the photo with us.
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Thank YOU for reading and commenting! I’m glad the photo was a good prompt for many! 🙂
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