KARISHMA MALHOTRA

Debt
There are mountains my father climbed so I could see farther
Homes my mother built so I could be rooted

There are shoulders that carried me miles
Quietly rested me on the ground and said
“Here we are, my child. Here is where you will learn and laugh and grow.
Most importantly-here is where you will have the power to choose”

My life matters because it is the voice of all those who have been silenced before me.
It is the sacrifice of familiar roads and mother tongues in exchange for empty cities and broken sentences.
Too many people have sacrificed their homes for me to be merely ordinary.

I must repay my debts.
I must be extraordinary.