The Fall

STRENGTH IS FOUND IN STRUGGLE

If you have never met adversity and no troubles have crossed your path...

If you have never fallen, never scraped and clawed, never fought desperately to scale the slippery walls of the black pit of despair...

If you have never rued your frailties and inadequacies or railed against the injustices which keep you mired in the muck, stuck in your sorrow...

Then you have also never known the exhilaration of the climb, of survival, of defying the odds. You have never felt the power which throbs within, never loosed the beast which longs to roar.

PERSEVERANCE AND DETERMINATION ARE FOUND IN FAILURE

If you have never met obstacles or confronted hurdles...

If you have never watched helplessly as hope slowly crumbles and slides through your fingertips, never desperately gripped the receding ground, the quicksand which surrounds, as you cling tightly to your sanity...

If you have never felt the bitter loss of the fall or known the pain of beginning again, time and time again, never sure of the ascent...

If you have never felt the sting of defeat, the gut-wrenching agony of the loss...

Then you have also never known the sweet bliss, the gentle kiss, of victory.

MOTIVATION AND WILLPOWER RESULT FROM WANT

If you have never known hunger or deprivation...

If you have never gazed up from the murky bottom of the endless abyss of self-loathing to the towering heights of pride, never felt the longing to reach the light, ever so dim...

If you have never glanced in the mirror of your failures and shortcomings, never cried out in horror at the image before your eyes... 

If you have never yearned for your release, never regretted your crimes, never acknowledged your lows...

Then you have also never known passion or desire, never lusted for pure freedom, never craved nor tasted the satisfaction of accomplishment.

STAND TALL. OVERCOME. THERE IS NO SHAME IN THE FALL.