Behind The Torch – – The Marantu Dispatch
Every true movement forward
requires a letting go.
Not because life is cruel,
but because the future has a narrower gate
than the past.
We like to imagine growth as accumulation.
More insight.
More clarity.
More strength.
But becoming is subtraction.
There are things that carried you this far
that cannot carry you any further.
Stories that once protected you
that now confine you.
Identities that once gave you shape
that now keep you small.
Identity is not who you are.
It is what you learned to answer to
when the world asked, “Who are you?”
Belonging is not love.
It is often an agreement:
I will remain familiar
if you allow me to stay.
At some point, both begin to weigh more
than they support.
You feel it when your clarity grows
but your voice softens to avoid friction.
When your truth sharpens
but you dilute it to remain welcome.
When you sense the next step
but hesitate because the group cannot follow.
This is the cost no one romanticizes.
To move forward,
you must disappoint a version of yourself
that others are still invested in.
You must release a sense of belonging
that depends on your staying unchanged.
Not everyone you love
can walk with you into what you are becoming.
Not every community survives your honesty.
Not every identity deserves to be preserved.
This does not mean you become cruel.
It means you become clear.
Loss is not punishment.
It is proof of direction.
The weight you release
is not what you failed to keep.
It is what was never meant
to cross the threshold with you.
You cannot carry everything forward.
And you were never meant to.
What remains after the letting go
will feel lighter, quieter,
and strangely more alone.
But it will be yours.
—Uzanenkosi
Torchbearer, Marantu
Year 0 | Izulu 23 | Week 4