Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – Thomas Jefferson

The Gettysburg Address: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” – Abraham Lincoln

I Have a Dream speech: “When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

When you stand at the edge of something new, you don’t get to know what’s next. You don’t get to know if the story is a comedy or a tragedy, if you are a main character or a footnote, and how many pages are coming before “The End”. Jefferson, Lincoln, and King are just a few of those past leaders whose words still resonate with the hearts of modern listeners. They are not remembered for the weapons that hung at their sides. But instead for the words that crafted a future they could not yet see. They believed in something great. And now we, dear readers, are part of that future and responsible to take our part in the next chapter.

What do you want to say? What future do you want to create?

This post is a response to a prompt from Writers Write.