Pain

Pain comes in all forms: the small tinges, the little bit of soreness, the random pain – the normal pain we live with every day.  

Then there's the kind of pain you can't ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out anything else, that makes the rest of the world fade away, until all you can think about is how much you hurt.

Pain. We anaesthetize, ride it out, embrace it, ignore it. And for some of us the best way to manage pain is to just push through it. 

There are no solutions. No easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it to subside. 

Most of the time pain can be managed. But sometimes the pain gets to you when you least expect it. It hits way below the belt and doesn't let up. 

Pain. You just have to fight through because the truth is you can't run away from it. 

And life will always make more.

Branches

There is good and there is evil. Right and wrong.

And if we're blessed with wisdom, then there are glimpses between the cracks of each where light streams through.

Sunlight filters through the branches of evil. We wait in silence for these times when sense can be made, when meaningless existence comes into focus, and our purpose presents itself.

And if we have the strength to be honest, then what we find there, staring back at us, is our own reflection, bearing witness to the duality of life.

And each one of us is capable of both the dark and the light, of good and evil, of either, of all.

And destiny, while marching ever in our direction, can be rerouted by the choices we make.

By the love we hold onto and the promises we keep.

Run

The Earth is large. Large enough that you think you can hide from anything: from fate, from God, from life itself. 

If only you could find a place far enough away, far enough to escape the troubles that plague you, the regrets that stab at you, the tears that kill you one drop at a time. 

 

So you run. To the edge of the Earth, to the depth of the oceans, where all is safe again, all is quiet and warm. Run so fast that everything begins to blur: your identity, your former life, the haunting memories. 

The solace of salt air, the peace of danger left behind, the luxury of grief. And maybe, only for a moment, you believe you have escaped.

To survive in this world, we hold close to us those on whom we depend. We trust in them our hopes, our fears... but what happens when trust is lost?

Where do we run, when things we believe in vanish before our eyes?

When all seems lost, the future unknowable, our very existence in peril... all we can do is run. You can run far, you can take your small precautions, but have you really gotten away? 

Can you ever escape? Or is it the truth that you did not have the strength or cunning to hide from destiny? The world is not small, you are. 

 

There is always a trail of footprints left behind. Fate can find you anywhere.