I may be a hopeless romantic and my ascent towards the top may not be frantic enough as some might prefer… as they sit in their glass house clutching their pearls. I say keep your fancy job in that executive suite, while I prioritize the ones that got me back on my two feet. For I am not a lone vessel in a vast sea but a small part of a vast fleet. It resides inside of a heart which pleads for peace in what is left of our humanity… 

For as long as I can, I will subsist on the love given to me and if you allow me this respite, I will alight the fires and raise the pyres on which we celebrate our victories. Not in the blood we shed but in the love we spread in the names of our mothers and fathers. We bear this banner on all of our alters, be it God or Man, we forged a new path where we acknowledge the travesties and choose to not concede to those who bend their knee toward the hand that feeds on our blood, sweat, and tears, but question the needs of the power that seeks to silence the minority.

You can’t live in fear of the unknown or you risk never discovering it at all. Therefor Death is not something to be afraid of, as it is inevitable. We can only live to the extent that we find the greatness within ourselves and cherish it until our time comes.

There are times to be careful, such as guiding a vessel into a harbor, crossing a busy intersection, selecting a college major, caring for your parents in old age, or rearing a baby into adulthood. But there are times when you must seize opportunities before the fates have their say.

Years ago when I felt what I thought were Death’s cold fingertips in my hospital bed, it wasn’t death at all; it was my own fear of it consuming me. If I were meant to die, I would have been six feet under already. But I lived, and to live the rest of my life in fear of the inevitable, is to waste the time I have left.