Every child is born
just as their parents were;
even as you grow and you learn
you still cannot see your own
personal future;
everyone experiences things
in their lives that are a test,
in one way or another;
some things that happen
are out of our hands
and they are things
that are beyond our control,
but it is how we respond to things
and the way in which we react
that is a test of character beyond compare.

Accidents happen; people get hurt;
things don’t always work with precision;
one minute you can find yourself
standing tall and strong,
and the next you can be lying
face-first in the dirt;
terrible life-changing events
can sweep you up in them
that can affect you for the rest of your life:
one second you can be walking across a busy road,
and the next you might find yourself
in a corridor walking towards a bright light;
you can be bitten by a random insect,
you can be sitting and suddenly feel
a sharp pain in your arm;
you can wake up one morning and feel depressed;
you can unknowingly be causing yourself
and someone else harm or distress;
you could catch a disease
that is so destructive and corrosive
the cure to survive it may be to lose a limb,
and when you do come up against something
and you have to make a choice
to go with the flow,
to fight for your own identity
is the only way for you to win.

Life is hardly ever plain-sailing;
we all sometimes have to make a course-correction,
now and again;
sometimes we all have to suffer through pain
to feel something amazing.
We are all human; we are all biologically similar –
but no two peoples’ lives are one and the same.

I admire a soldier;
I know why it is important
to have the heart of a fighter;
I know what it is like to lose something important
and see it wither away, as if it were
being burned to ashes by a fire;
the people that fill my heart with optimism,
who overcome their often troubled lives,
are the people to me who always inspire.

To face every day with the same enthusiasm
as a child is glorious;
to never shy away from what you have to do
is truly audacious;
to explore and embrace a brand new frontier
is what it means to be a daredevil and adventurous;
to never shrink and to never turn away
from a worthy fight is the best way of showing
the true indomitable nature of the human soul;
and just how much,
no matter what you are going through,
you can be fearless and phenomenally courageous.