Who am I? Depends on who you ask. Some see nothing more than a little girl, or a freak of nature to be pitied or feared. Others see a woman guided by a singular purpose, driven, loyal and lovely. Who am I? As I stand under this hot light and look into this mirror, I see a girl and a woman. I see a heart once broken but learning to mend. A daughter looking up to her old man, who cannot give her the answers she needs because she finally sees him as human. A lost soul in search of a God and an insurmountable truth. A lover learning that the body and heart really can be one. A youth in search of a road.
Ive since found that road, and soon, I'll know how far I've gone and who next I'll become. We're all born the same, unfettered by preconceived limitations. Eventually, we submit to laws. There are those we must embrace in order to be free... The laws of iron and discipline. Then there are those we must challenge for that very same freedom... The laws of conformity and small-mindedness. The weight of these chains are so subtle, we forget them. This is how we are shackled, tamed, broken. Normalcy becomes the rule and we grow comfortable with limits. Like a dog at the end of a leash, we move but never of our own will.
It is time to defy, time to rise up... I will test my mettle, pull hard against these restraints. I will not let conventional thinking rule me. As I stand here, the chain will bury deep into my flesh, the weight will pull me down. But I will fight! I will defy gravity. If I fall, I will get back up. Life is short and every minute that passes hurtles us closer to the end. In the time that I have, I have bound myself to this chosen life and it to me-these words are the contract that bind me to this sport... Upon it, I have signed my name in blood.
