"Everday we fight our battles"

[Transcribed from an audio recording.]

For A.

Every day we fight our battles, each one of us. No matter how small or big, trivial or...fundamental, we all fight.... Sometimes I wonder what makes us fight, makes us continue. Why not just give up? What makes us so strong? Or want to be strong? Is it something that we're taught, something that we learn? Something that is expected of us? I don't think so. I think it's something that is...inherent in us. It is a natural part of us.... In my formative years, shall we say, I was so confused about who I was and what I was to become—or, who I wanted to be and what I thought I would become. But...there was something I always felt to be certain. That was my inner strength. It took me years to fully understand how to harness it. Even now I'm not sure how, how I learned to do that. But, then, that's just it: it's not learning, it's simply becoming. I became strong. I am strong. I know that it lives within me because it is a part of me, and I just know how to...live off it, drink from its source. Yes, I struggle every day—we all do. The reason why we don't just quit or give up is because...it's because our strength forbids it. It does not understand failure or capitulation. It is a foreign concept to it. No. We are not...ones for failure or defeat. We are victors. We are conquerors. And we will always strive against the tide.... Because...because we are...undefeatable.... We will always fight. We always fight until we have won.

M.M. — 22:59, 30-Apr-2015