In life

we all have our crosses to bear

whether health or relationships

poverty, grief, loss or disaster

no one is spared

each has a cross to lumber with

to try and hold up

to carry on despite its woeful burden

and all of us can

because there is that something

called the human spirit

that indomitable drive

to overcome

to never give up

when you consider history

and how people survived

through calamities and plagues and

war and destruction

always courage came to them in the end

and allowed them to prevail over their adversity

so let the crosses come

and let us carry them proudly

to honor those who walked before

there are no crosses too heavy

only those to be borne to success

to strengthen us and build our characters

and prove that we can survive in the end

let us therefore be like our forefathers

and our brothers before

and take inspiration from their kinship

their hardships overcome through working together

in unison toward a common cause

how in the end they carried on and triumphed

we are here today because

they fought the weight of their crosses

yet endured

they carry us still by their example

ours is only to carry on

following in their footsteps.