Gracefully Broken in Uncertain Times by Pam McElvane

Have you ever stood at the edge of yourself, Not lost, but aching threadbare in stealth, where your own reflection feels far away, And the weight you carry has no name to say.

Have you ever felt a fracture so deep, That silence is louder than the nights you weep? When loneliness doesn’t come from being alone, But from knowing your pain is yours, unknown.

In these days of political smoke and flame, Where power cloaks itself in shame, I wonder: how do we become future-ready? To shape a world that’s just and steady?

Entrepreneurs wake to shifting sand, Their futures clenched in someone else’s hand. Partnerships fade without reason or grace, Decisions made that erase their place.

They built with hope, and bled with pride, Now forced to pivot or step aside. They dig deep into soul and skin, To dream again, to try, to win.

And I think of the DEI leaders who dared, Who broke the silence because they cared. Years of toil to shift the tide, To make sure equity would not be denied.

They created space in culture’s halls, For voices once silenced by corporate walls. Yet now, so many are cast aside, As silence returns and visions slide.

It’s the quiet betrayal that cuts the most, when allies retreat, when courage is ghost. When fear of politics shapes the stage, And inclusion is lost to performative rage.

I think of our elders, gray and wise, Who watched Jim Crow through weary eyes. Who gave their youth to civil strife, So we could taste a freer life.

They must ask with a trembling breath: “Are we truly still circling death?” Their hearts cracked open by déjà vu, Because hate found a way to feel brand new.

And then there are our babies,pure and small, may they never feel the burden of it all. May our chaos not become their chain, may they walk in sunlight, not our pain.

Our older children, bold Gen Z, Look at this fractured democracy. They ask what future they’re being sold, with student debt and dreams on hold.

No pension, no promise, no guaranteed pay, No clarity in where they’ll stay. And global allies now watch and sigh, Wondering how long this truth will lie.

America once lit the path ahead, Now walks with ghosts, with fear and dread. Immigrants once came to this land of the free, Now find detention, not liberty.

DACA’s children raised in grace, Now must defend their rightful place. Their dreams now dangled, bait for pain, As if their hope is ours to chain.

This mimic of bondage, this cruel refrain, draws straight from history's darkest stain. I feel the tremble in my spine, at how our laws can so align.

Yet even as systems break and bend, I believe this is not the end. For even when the sky turns black, The stars still burn. We can turn back.

Gracefully broken, not shattered whole, each crack a doorway to a stronger soul. We are the builders, the breakers of mold, the midwives of what must unfold.

So let us rise, not perfect, but true, bearing wisdom from all we’ve been through. Let our scars become blueprints for change, And courage the currency we exchange.

For justice sleeps but never dies, It only waits for hearts to rise. We are not done. We are not through. Gracefully broken, but building anew.