Deep Roots – Part 1 –

My grandmother is my keystone.

Not in the beer sense but in the building sense. If you go on wikipedia you’ll find that a keystone is the stone placed at the apex(center) of an arch. It is the final stone that is placed during construction of an arch and gives the arch its structural integrity. Before placing the keystone the arch cannot carry even its own weight, but after the keystone is placed the arch can carry weight in one of the most efficient manners possible. One of the most interesting aspects of a keystone is that after the arch has been put in place the keystone can sometimes be REMOVED without the structure itself collapsing.

Meliana was her name. She placed my roots in Haiti.

She was a seed dropped into barren soil who bore fruit. Her roots anchored the soil, her leaves fell to enrich the land, and then her fruits littered the ground. I grew in this soil, in the cool shade of her love. She protected me, nurtured me, and now with the end of her days I continue her legacy.

I am a Haitian-American living amongst a privileged few.

I stop now to consider the footfalls that led me to this place.

I stop now to consider the benefits that my education will provide me in the future.

I stop now to consider the foundations laid before me by generations and the foundations I must lay in their honor for generations future.

I stop now to study my roots and thus to learn about myself.