"Learning and understanding who I am, where I came from and who I choose to become, is my only concern and yet I understand that there is so much more yet to come..."

The sounds of the final war rage around me, as I dodge and dive away from danger and the scattered dibris falling buildings around me...narrowly avoided deaths blow after deathsblow... I remind myself to Run.. Run... faster...or die! Don't look back... Keep going... Don't give up! Don't give up!

My mentor and trainer used to say: "Listen and learn from your environment so that you may survive the fight yet to come Silence is always followed by violence and pain". His words echo in my head like a rock in an empty can as my body is violently flung against a nearby wall... Simply because for a moment I forgot the most important lesson I had, pay attention, listen and learn or die...

All I have known my entire life has been loss... Once day soon I will make sure to honour the dead and the ones who sacrificed their lives to give me this moment...

...these few precious moments between success and failure... Dazed and yet knowing that if I don't move I will die and my mission will be a failure. I push myself up with my near broken body and pull myself upwards. Taking a brief moment to collect my reserves, I stand taller than before and continue to raise forward to my destiny...


© Joleen