Friday, January 19, 2007

Strength

I used to think that being strong meant never falling down. It meant not needing anything from anyone. It meant doing it on your own. I thought I was strong. I can benchpress more than my body weight. I can rewire a house, fix my car or design nuclear subamrines all by my darn self. Does that make me strong? Nope. If anything, its all of those things (more specifically my knowledge of those things) that keep me from being as strong as I can (should) be. This isn't a new concept, how many cliches try to tell us the same thing? Strength in numbers, two heads, a cord of three strands, and on and on. Yet who are our hearoes? A lone man in a cape or a mask or boxing gloves. Yet more often than not there they are - alone.
A crock, a sham - a cruel, cruel joke.
I know that I'm strong. I don't want to chase after the world's idea of what strength is. I'm tired of that. The strongest people still fall and they have others there to help them up. They don't hide their fall, they reach up from where they are. I want to reach for real strength and find that I can never hold it, just let it hold me.

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