The Bluestocking 2022-23

Avery Southam | Grade 12 The Splendid Race

It’s been going on forever, since Hella’s golden days. The world felt a lot younger then. Still, it was the same torch race we know now. Back then, glory and praise all the same, even by the noblest poets sung.

It’s nice when you think about it. When you look around now. Like a game, but every one on the same team. All striving for the whole. I think of every hand I’ve ever known, or have come to meet here. They all share the same flame, flashing onward to this goal.

There’s those who lead, yes. Think of she, who bore it first. Not all of us can be first. But she who last, with the most eager of pace, fought forward. Her fight was not lone some, nor selfish. She shared her victory. Same team, remember? She looked over at her teammate. They both smiled, and it was hard to tell which had actually won. Their fulfillment was shared. They were twin conquerors in the race. And yes, the world around them is dark. It’s unforgiving, unloving, and uncertain. But here in this place where the ivy grows, just the tiniest fraction of the world, the splen did race continues to be run. Demanding? Maybe. Burdensome? At times. But each of us must bear it together, this sacred spark. Keep pushing each other forward. Cheering each other on, until the course be done. We must bear this torch. Stand up tall; you will never understand how lucky you are. Don’t faint. Don’t slack. There’s so many who long for this opportunity. This sister hood. This family. This love. You know waiting for you at the end, there’s all of those hands I was talking about. They are waiting. Pass it onto them. Let’s all light this un charted track. Let’s break walls down and go places nobody would have believed: The yet untrodden lands. And hey, comrade, I know the night can feel long and slow. I hear you. But I’m bearing it beside you, and I can feel the heat of the nearing mystic fire. Keep your head up, be cause it’s shining bright. It’s going to be so great. You are going to be so great. Just hold on. We are soon coming upon it, the goal of our desire.

Right now, I feel the strength of others before us. Be it our captain, or strangers we will never know the names of. They have wished, withered, and wilt our portion of the same strife. It is for them that we will pass onto others, the future, this task we have

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