Making A Difference

Once upon a time a small child existed inside of her mind, she was full of laughter and always a smile graced her face. With time that child found herself to be alone in a world of strangers and hostility. It was not the child that was a fault, for she only wandered the path that had been carved for her by her parents. They were clueless as to the future pain they were inflicting on their child, living instead in the moment of time, living their lives unto themselves.

Time would give into them, wither their bodies, their minds and eventually taking them back into the earth from which they came. But it was the little child that would be left behind to gather the stones to cover their graves, a child small in mind and grown in body. For this child, now an adult, still carried with her the hurt and pain of the past. Mired in insecurity and self-doubt she remained. There was no wealth left to her upon her parents passing, no knowledge and no self-worth. Those things were taken away long ago, removed before they were ever given, possessed by parents that were unwilling to share them.

Walking alone, away from the death that had consumed her life from the very beginning, this child at heart was a woman without direction. Her path took her on a longer journey than she had ever known. A journey of self-awareness and exploration, to places within herself and to places so far removed from her that she sometimes felt as if she was traveling into a vast abyss barren of all living things. There was emptiness within her and outside of her, loneliness and isolation. Yet, it was her journey that would eventually set her free, that would help her to see all that she was and all that she was not.

For it was the journey, through the briars of life and the thorns of her emotions that led her to find herself, sitting at the edge of the writhing ocean. As the tide began to nip at her toes, splashing up and onto her legs, she found herself to be weary, tired and sore from her excursion. It was then that she finally gave in, yielding to the overwhelming sense of exhaustion and took a seat upon the beach. She sat there for what seemed to be an eternity and yet it was only a moment in time. The water came and went, splashing up and onto her with each breaking wave, as did the flood of emotions that she felt in her solitude.

But the waves and the emotions cleansed her, giving way to a sense of freedom she had never before known. No longer did she think about what she had lost, her childhood, her parents nor her sense of self, for she had a moment of clarity; a moment wherein she knew that another day was on the horizon and with that moment, with that new day, would come opportunities. She knew that her moment was now, that her opportunity was before her and her life, like the journey and the waves, would always show her something new, and provide her the means to give of herself and to wash away the pains of yesterday. And in that moment she felt the words that she had been missing, and she repeated them over and over again, silently into her heart…..

“Only today shall I grieve for the past, for I cannot change where I have been. Tomorrow my past shall become my guide, not to change my own future, but to make a difference in the life of another.” (me 2012)


And thank you Brent Shuttleworth for inspiring me.