We’re taught what’s right and wrong before we understand the choice What love should look like, who should fit, whose truth deserves a voice But being taught what’s normal doesn't make one life worth more Differences aren't reasons to deny who rights are for * Let's start right here in Canton, where Ryan screamed in fear Someone heard enough to know, then they chose to disappear Still this city searched and rallied, proving many cared While others let their judgment drown the empathy they shared * They call this country free, say acceptance will be shown But many still condemn the lives that differ from their own If equal only matters when your choices look the same Then your open-minded promises are just a bull shit game * You didn’t have to understand to know his life had worth You didn’t have to share his truth for him to have walked this earth Your faith, comfort, and judgment don’t decide who gets to be His rights belonged to him, not your fake morality * In Duhok, Iraq, Doski was murdered by her kin Her brother came from Germany, then fled back there again She was shot, left there to die, her life cut short that day Another so-called honor killing took her life away * If honor here means you can’t love, respect, or let them be Then your honor is just hatred dressed in false morality If someone else existing brings dishonor to your name Then it likely wasn't them that brought your name the shame * In Chechnya, 2017, you're taken if they think you're gay No proof was ever needed, just suspicion cleared the way Beaten, shocked, and tortured, then exposed before their kin Some were sent back home where they were taught you are a sin * If their law can make suspicion good enough to strip your rights And your home can turn against you after government ignites Then what is left for safety when both family and state Can turn a rumor into fear and fear itself into hate * We don’t have to understand to know their lives have worth We don’t have to share their truths for them to walk this earth Our faith, comfort, and judgment shouldn’t decide who gets to be Their rights belong to them, not our fake morality * In twenty twenty-three Uganda put hate into law Love could mean a lifetime locked behind a prison wall Aggravated cases carry death as penalty While power calls oppression law, and strips humanity * When prejudice gets written down and stamped with legal might And scripture gets distorted just to say that hate is right Then silence helps the system keep oppression in its place And then every law left standing puts more hatred in its face * You don’t have to understand to know their lives have worth You don’t have to share their truths for them to walk this earth Your faith, comfort, and judgment don’t decide who gets to be Their rights belong to them, not your fake morality * Stop twisting holy scripture just to justify your fear Stop calling cruelty moral when the damage is this clear You don’t get to sit guilt-free and watch their rights denied If you could have helped and remained passively aside * You don’t have to understand for their lives to have worth You don’t have to share their truths for them to grace this earth Your selective faith and judgment don’t decide who gets to be Their rights belong to them, not your bull shit morality more

I know this is a day late. I wanted the 1st time I shared it publicly on my most active social accounts tied to the anniversary it was created for, which put me in a ridiculous time crunch... because every time I thought I was done, I saw 1 more thing that could make it better. Ironically, THAT’s why it is not perfect. • Twenty-Five Later started as a poem about the part of “Never Forget” that I think gets lost. • The people killed on 9/11 were strangers to the people who hated them. They were reduced to what someone else had taught those attackers they represented. That idea kept bothering me because 25 years later, we still let other people hand us labels, enemies, fears, and beliefs we may never stop to question for ourselves. • That contradiction became this song. • If this message makes you think of someone, please share it with them. Not to prove a point. Not to win an argument. Not to shame them. • Share it because somewhere along the way, too many of us got comfortable letting fear, anger, headlines, politics, algorithms, and other people decide who we should distrust or hate. • Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on 9/11. If “Never Forget” is going to mean anything beyond remembering the day they died, then maybe part of honoring them is making damn sure we don’t keep handing that same kind of hatred to the next generation. • If there is anyone in your life who needs to hear that, please let this message reach them. • The lyric video is on my HyperFollow below: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bandurkagifts/twenty-five-later ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ LYRICS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The morning was moving like any before Then one breaking image came through every door A voice on the phone, a screen filled with smoke And somewhere inside us, the normal had broke • We waited for answers that nobody knew One plane became two, and the fear only grew Who else was in danger, what waited ahead As the next breaking headline counts more of the dead • Twenty-five later, we honor the date Still lower the flags, and remember their fate But if “Never Forget” was a lesson to stay Then why do we still let our hate lead the way? • We learned every name, every number, and place Remember the towers, the smoke, and each face But if all we preserved was the grief from that day Then we failed each lesson their loss should convey • We learned how fast fear can turn into blame How anger can spread while we feed it a name We saw what division can cost when it grows Still somehow we chose not to learn what it shows • Twenty-five later, we honor the date Still lower the flags, and remember their fate But if “Never Forget” was a lesson to stay Then why do we still give our own minds away? • If hate lit the fuse that destroyed lives that day Then hate cannot be what we carry away We failed when remembrance got tangled with blame When we let someone else decide who to shame • “Never Forget” was supposed to mean more Than names on a wall and a date we restore It should have taught us what hatred can do But twenty-five later, we still feed it too • Twenty-five later, we honor the date Still lower the flags, and remember their fate But “Never Forget” should have changed how we live Not just how we mourn, but the hatred we give • We got too complacent. Gave our minds away Let headlines and slogans tell us what to say We traded our judgment for voices on screens Then called it conviction while living fake dreams • We got weak in the places that needed a spine Too lazy to question who shaped every line If “Never Forget” means a damn thing today Then take back the power that we gave away • Twenty-five later, we honor the date Still lower the flags, and remember their fate If 9/11 showed what hate became Then “Never Forget” means we don’t do the same • This was a pretty impromptu project, and AI was 1 of the tools I pulled from my creative toolbox while putting it together.more

You’re More Than You See: A song for the silent warriors—the ones who rise every day without applause, who carry the weight and keep moving. I wrote this for my mom, not to say everything, but to reflect what I’ve seen in her that she may have forgotten about herself: the quiet resilience, the unseen strength, the beauty that doesn’t ask to be noticed. This song is about all the things that don’t get said out loud. It’s for the moments that aren’t shared, the battles fought in silence, and the strength that shows up even when it doesn’t feel like enough. You don’t have to be loud to be powerful. You don’t have to feel seen to be deeply known. And you don’t have to see it in yourself to be more than you’ve ever imagined. I hope this song reaches those who need that reminder—especially her. 🎧 Listen, feel, share. 💬 Drop a comment if this reminded you of someone you love. ❤️‍🔥 Happy Mother’s Day!!! 💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬💬 You’re More Than You See (Verse 1) You’ve walked through the world, your edges unbent No sugar coatin’, you said what you meant The weight that you hated looked rooted, not wrong A presence that hummed like the start of a song (Verse 2) You spoke of yourself as if you were gone But I saw you standing, you’re still holding on A beautiful spirit, still grounded and true You’re worn, but still standing, after all you’ve been through (Chorus) You’re more than the mirror, you’re more than the fight You’re more than the shadows that visit at night You’re more than the battles that shape how you feel You’re more than the moments that you don’t reveal You’re more than you see (Verse 3) There’s beauty in all that you’ve learned to endure You’re a masterpiece, but you’re still seeking your cure You’ve held up our family, though you felt alone You’re still the heartbeat, the roots, and the stone (Bridge) You sat in your corner, the oxygen low Breathing through battles that only you know I waited and watched, in hopes that you'd see Your quiet beauty that shines back at me (Chorus) You’re more than the mirror, you’re more than the fight You’re more than the shadows that visit at night You’re more than the battles that shape how you feel You’re more than the moments that you don’t reveal You’re strength, you are beauty, a force full of light A heart that’s still beating, despite every fight You do not see that your strength leads the way You silently struggle yet rise every day You’re more than you see (Outro) You know that person you see in the mirror What you do not see there, the world can see clear You are a warrior, I hope you will learn Because your life’s waiting, it’s finally your turn (Final Chorus) You’re more than the mirror, you’re more than the fight You’re more than the shadows that visit at night You’re more than the battles that shape how you feel You’re more than the moments that you don’t reveal You’re strength, you are beauty, a force full of light A heart that’s still beating, despite every fight You don’t see, your strength taught me the way You silently struggle yet rise every day I hope one day you see what we see You’re more than you see more