Creative: A Letter to My Littles

To any and all

those whose life was not easy, who's been beaten and taken advantage of, to all the littles in my life: First, you whispered in silent tears. Now you tell them no, and you are brushed aside. You scream it, and you are told you are being childish. You weren't the first; it was never right. But you could be the last.

I've been through hell, met the proverbial devil, and I'm letting my people know that there is more to life than just the darkness you were born into. I let it silence me when I was a little; still, you have an ally in me for your battle against it.

What we've been forced to live through isn't right, though there is no recourse I can take. My writing is what I have to give you, and with it, you might know my life wasn't right either, and I never meant to hide from our shadows. Life itself is complex; more intricate than you can ever imagine is fair.

That will never mean we should submit to our woes. We must endeavor to hold onto our own strengths and find our own peace if we are to cross from mere survival to thriving people. Trust in those aspects of yourself that sing earnestly within your soul.

Nurture those parts of you, and you'll get to a place where you feel like a mountain. Let the whispers of your trees and ferns, your trickling streams, your chirping birds and buzzing bees all call out, "I know I'm resilient as fuck. So bring it on."

I've found adulthood, true adulthood, might be marked by the fulfillment of one realizing that all the people, things, and places they've been can either add or subtract from a person. And that same person is the one who inevitably gets to decide who and what all of that is, and we, therefore, have the ability to decide our lives. In this manner, free will is the most sacred gift for humankind.

To do so, life required bravery from me. Walking away from my own desolation, fighting the urge to stay and let it continue to darken me. When shredded hearts can't understand what sliced through them, they often lock themselves within familiar claws that cut. Even those who know its wrong, but don't trust their own take on the how of it enough to lead themselves away.

I've learned the hard way; never hold too tightly the ideals of people who only try to force you into molds that don't fit. They weren't made for you. For living by or for another's whims will always lead you somewhere you didn't want to go, doing things you never wanted. You'll always be more lost in the loss of these others.

Listen to the inner voice, trust when it tells you no to a person or a thing. Though in that same spirit, never let fear and anger be your ruler. Temper it with knowledge and morals so that you might conquer your world, deciding better for yourself and your loves at every step. For in these qualities you can choose, they will never fail you like people have.

Let these temperaments be the cloak that warms and guides you, and your resilience be your crown, never letting "I can't" seep into your vocabulary. You are the ruler of your life. There exists no human who has a right to take that from you, nor do they ever truly have the capability if we don't let them.

My dear child, the moment I heard your scream, I heard mine too. And I will no longer ignore it. My squeak is now a roar.