The Weight of Standing Alone

There is a particular courage in the vertical. To rise above the collective, to hold one’s head higher than the rest, is to invite the wind to test your resolve. Most things prefer the safety of the cluster, the warmth of the crowd, the shared burden of the earth. To be singular is to be exposed. It is to accept that the gale will strike you first, and with the most force. Yet, there is a quiet dignity in this isolation. It is not a rejection of the others, but a testament to the strength required to simply exist in one’s own space. We spend our lives trying to blend, to soften our edges, to become part of the landscape. We fear the moment when we are called to stand apart. But perhaps the true shape of a life is found only in the moments when we are forced to hold our ground against the invisible pressure of the world.

Laria Saunders has captured this quiet defiance in her image titled Leading Edge. It reminds us that there is beauty in the struggle to remain upright. Does it not make you wonder what you would stand for, if the wind were to turn against you?