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and why not.

in your life, you’ll meet people who only see what they’ve been allowed to look at. hear only what they tell themselves. deliver the message and play the part. these are your teachers.

you’ll also find those who can see past what you’ve shown them, listen and hold you, sing the song you needed to remember and almost forgot. they believe in the future, and that you deserve it, too. these are your guides.

you’ll not find all these pieces where you thought. you’ll have parents as your competition, your enemy, your child. siblings that are strangers. grandparents that never met you. neighbors who know your whole life. friends that became sisters. brothers from acquaintances. aunts, uncles and godparents that forget. mentors that kept you close. colleagues that adopted you into their litters.

how else would you know justice until you recognized it separate from the law? loyalty separate from family? love separate from commitment? responsibility separate from the role? and why not? every time your heart breaks, the pieces come back together bigger and stronger. hold yourself and you’ll be able to hold even more.