STORM-BUILT SANCTUARY

​STORM-BUILT SANCTUARY

A Civil Rights & Mental Health Reflection

What’s up Journal?

ALGORITHM :: SHELTER :: DIFFERENT :: MATERIALS

We all

(broken line, brother)

seek

shelter from

the storm,

though our roofs

tin panels of trauma

thatch of therapy

brick-heavy burdens we carry

shingles of survival

are built from different materials.

But we ALL building.

See, some men got

mansions of medication

hovels of hope

churches of counseling

temples of testimony

Each one a DIFFERENT blueprint,

same NEED for cover.

The rain don’t discriminate

(it falls on the just

and the unjust,

on the healed

and the healing)

But we judge each other’s

architecture,

like MY storm

ain’t YOUR storm,

like MY shelter

supposed to look like YOURS.

Brother built his walls with

silence     (privacy is protection)

I built mine with

words     (speaking sets me free)

Sister sealed her windows with

distance     (space for breathing)

Cousin left his door wide open

(community is cure)

And we ALL surviving,

different materials,

SAME STORM,

same sky trying to

HEAL us.

The question ain’t

“Is YOUR roof better than MINE?”

The question is

“Did we make it through the NIGHT?”

Because mental health is civil rights is human rights is—

the right to BUILD

whatever shelter

keeps your soul

DRY.

Different materials,

same WORTH.

Different blueprints,

same RIGHT to STAND.

ALGORITHM COMPLETE :: WE ALL SEEK :: WE ALL BUILD :: WE ALL WORTHY

Ruben

#MentalHealth #CivilRights #HumanRights #Reflection #Healing #Resilience #Community