Steel Beneath the Skin

            You never know what hides behind someone’s eyes. What pain, what joy, what memories drive a knife into their belly every night when they lay awake in the dark. Most of us are skilled at hiding it behind easy smiles and false laughter. That makes it easy to judge, when we really shouldn’t because in truth, we don’t know shit.

            On all sides some days, it seems as if the world that was so bright has turned to dark gray and thunderstorms threaten to tear down everything we’ve tried to build. It’s enough to bring someone to their knees and wonder when it will get better, when the sun will shine again. A very wise woman I know believes we create with our thoughts, that we change ourselves and thus the world with our state of mind. Gods know she is right. But even so, it doesn’t hurt to have role models to help you drag yourself out of the mud every now and again. Fictional characters are what pull me out of the dumps.

            Daenerys Targaryen believes she is the last of her house. She lost her husband and son in one fell swoop, a security that she had barely closed her fist around slipped through her fingers like water. She literally rose from the ashes of her husband’s funeral pyre, a new purpose in life and three baby dragons at her side. The remains of her husband’s khalasar to protect, the dragons to defend, she really had no choice but to be strong. And as far as I have seen in the show, she mourns what was lost but she isn’t whimpering, she is conquering.

            Mac Lane was rainbow girl, floating through life as easy as you please until her sister’s unexpected murder. She flew a world away to Ireland to find the truth of what happened, and stumbled onto something more than she could have ever imagined. Death and decimation, the ultimate violation, and she came back from it all. Not without help though and once she was back, she had her purpose. A city to avenge, new people to protect. “We’re taking back the night, let there be light, we’re not afraid anymore, you took what was mine and now it is time, for you and I to settle the score.”

            And then there are real life phoenixes. Women who I will not name that rose from the ashes of their pain and to see them today, you would never guess they had once been that low. It makes you stop and think, what have I got to complain about, until that knife drives deep again when you’re alone in the dark. Pain is pain and we all have different thresholds and different points where we decide we’ve had enough. We’ve had enough and we march on the free cities to make our mark, or we march through Dublin killing every dark thing that goes bump in the night that dared to invade our home to begin with.

            What’s your point? What will you march on to bring the light back into your darkest night? What is the purpose that gets you out of the mud puddle when you see no reason to go on? Your purpose is the steel beneath your skin, your armor and your strength. Find it and dig your claws in.