THANK YOU

Do you ponder the trials, the memories and mental portfolios of your life and how they have brought you to your current situation?

I have faced that train of thought on many occasions. I feel the way the tracks shake and rumble and I hear the metal shrieking. I see the light approaching me as all the noise and chaos start to confuse and terrify my very soul. I have two choices right now. I can jump or stand.

I can jump to the side and watch as each fragment of time screams by, like a voyeur to my own life.

Or, I can stand motionless, with open arms, welcoming and relishing each and every moment as it pummels against me. All the good and all the bad, that has befallen me, for which I am grateful. It has shaped me into the man, the saint, the sinner, and the asshole that I am.

But on this day I am here to thank those that did me a favor. I am here to thank those that tried to break me.

It may seem strange to be thanking all the people who I should be hating. Although without them I'd be looking at the world and slowly counting away the days till I cease to exist. To become nothing but a smear on the tapestry of life.

Why is that? Because those people who tried to tear me down, in turn, built me up.

Every part of my soul and sanity that was stripped away, became the very same pieces I used to rebuild myself.

The more they tried to kill the person I was, the more they steered me into becoming the man I'm supposed to be.

Now here I sit. A stronger, saner and very honestly a greater man for it.

So with that said, this goes to all the people who tried to make me less. Whether you wanted too or not, you made me more, and for that, I thank you.