Tag: slavery

The Past We Cannot Ignore

The past does not disappear. It stays in what we see, what we ignore, and what we choose to face.

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery • March 25

Some parts of history do not fade on their own. They stay—not always visible, but always there.

Slavery is one of them.

For generations, people were taken, sold, and treated as property. Lives reduced to labor. Names replaced. Families broken before they even had the chance to stay whole.

This is not a distant story.

What was built in that time did not disappear. It shaped systems, thinking, and the way people are still treated in many parts of the world.

Remembering is not about staying in the past. It is about refusing to pretend it did not happen. Because when something this serious is ignored, it does not end. It only changes form.

But this is not only about suffering. It is also about those who endured—those who resisted in ways seen and unseen, those who held on to dignity when everything else was taken.

That part matters too.

Remembering moves into how we live now. People are not labels, and we treat them that way. Fairness is not adjusted to fit comfort. Truth is not something we reshape just to make things easier.

History is already written. What we do with it—that part is still being decided.

⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ

Saint Josephine Bakhita—Grateful for What Happened

A life that moved from slavery to freedom, remembered for a choice few would expect.

She was born in Sudan around 1869, in the Darfur region of Africa. While she was still a child, she was kidnapped, sold into slavery, beaten, renamed, and stripped of identity. Her past was brutal. But it did not break her.

She was eventually taken to Italy, where slavery was no longer legal. There, she was declared free by the courts. In that same place, she encountered Christ. Instead of choosing anger, she chose forgiveness.

Josephine Bakhita was a former slave who lived through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She spent about 10 years in slavery, from childhood until her arrival in Europe. Her life unfolded between Africa and Italy, shaped by extreme cruelty and, later on, unexpected freedom.

She later became a Canossian sister and lived a simple life of service. People noticed how settled she was. Nothing in her felt bitter or resentful. What she had been through did not leak into how she treated others.

Her words later revealed how she understood her own past:

“If I were to meet the slave traders who kidnapped me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian today.”

Saint Josephine Bakhita’s message is simple and sharp. A painful past does not erase dignity. A wounded life can still become whole.

Today at work, in families, in friendships, online. Someone hurts us. Someone embarrasses us. Someone crosses a line. The easy move is to return it. A sharp reply. Silent treatment. A quiet grudge that stays. Another option exists. Not dramatic forgiveness. Just choosing not to add more damage. Letting a moment end instead of dragging it forward. In ordinary life, that choice already changes a lot.

Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.

⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ

Alone With a Piano • Darem Placer
When love prefers silence.