I can feel the flames, low, smoldering, dancing waves of heat below; I can feel them grow more intense, warmer until they’re almost unbearably hot. The flames are rising, and I can almost taste the heat, so thick and pure. I can feel it. Can you feel it?
I say it so often, to never give up and to never give in. It’s so easy to do. To give up, to give in and to let the flames die, without feeding them, let them starve… futility.
Too many times I read things that are hurtful, painful and faithless.
There are children who do nothing wrong but are born with a disability that makes them difficult, that makes them challenging, that makes them different. And for that, many are punished, treated wrongly, told they will never make it, that all hope is just a dream and dreams are for bedtime. Therefore, the insinuation all to often is: do not reach, do not want for more, do not give in to hopes or aspirations, much less give in to passion – the passion for life, the passion to push ever forward to seek something better, to overcome the struggle, to find a way, much less… to desire…
No, it is futile.
It is not worth it.
Give up now… Give up now?
I say no. I say it is wrong. I say there is a way to reach for something better. I say they can, they will and they have the right to want more for themselves. Their desires should not be crushed.
In the midst of the darkness comes the crack, the whipping snap through the air and a moment later comes the realization of pain, physical, sharp and lasting.
Why?
Life is meant to be lived.
We are different. We have challenges. We have struggles.
It’s not the fault of a mother, a father, a teacher or our own.
There is no one to blame and no one to punish.
There’s always an answer. And there is help.
Rising above the flames, some find hope, some grasp the last rung on the ladder, some climb higher, believing in more than what they have been told and more than what they can see. Sometimes it takes a lot of faith that something greater is possible even when everyone says it is not… those are the one’s who make it, they seek help and with that help they find their way.
~Bryan
