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The Weight of Our Forebears
Why does Charleston, SC feel so heavy?
We just got back from Charleston, and while it is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited, I also believe its heaviness does not exclusively derive from the pressure of Low Country humid air.
Even by the water with the Atlantic breeze blowing, the weight of what Charleston was and in some ways, still is, gathers upon your head and shoulders, bowing them down, making it hard to breathe.
Around every corner, shadows gather and fall across the old city walls and cobblestones.
They spread so long they darken the face of the bright noonday sun.
No sooner had we landed at Charleston Airport did I feel a difference from Florida. In the center of the terminal, a stained glass exhibit might seem to the casual passer-by to be an art exhibit, or one devoted to the “Holy City’s” many churches.
But I realized — that church. The church where that boy murdered the nine good people who invited him to pray with them.
Yes, that church, that day. That Charleston. This Charleston. My eyes filled with tears and my heart…
