“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
- Harold R. McAlindon

My life has been a study in blazing. Sometimes I scorch as I blaze. Sometimes I barely glow, dimmed and alone and wondering where the darkness is leading. The way before me has never been set or solid, lit or leisurely. Hard work, harder times, hardening heart against the anger that comes from all sides for not being a polite cog in the machine.

And then its clear, the tiny voice in my heart, led by love, courage and determination, to do what is right and good. I hold on to that at times, when I get knocked off kilter, or when the opportunity to gain advantage in an improper way presents itself seductively. The fear that comes out as hate towards me can be deafening, but for that one tiny light of love. I spread, I embrace, I tackle and confront.

This little light of mine sure does know how to shine. Bonfire bright and supernova explosive, it can outsize me and burn off the worry, the fear and the frustration. To hold, alone, to what I need to be and believe, despite a whirlwind of spin and media madness, is both a blessing and a curse. I have not chosen to be talented, to be driven, to be wholly who I must, but there is no other choice. Crazy is the term applied sometimes, even by myself. The mad and majestic share the same kind of perception - crazy enough to see a vision and determined enough to seek it out.

I’m a catalyst, a maverick, a troublemaker. I know it, and while for the longest time it vexed me, I grew to love what I am, for my role is necessary, especially in these times of mass media zombification. I’m the bug in your ear, the pebble in your shoe, the sun bright and blazing in your eye. Sometimes whisper soft, most times hammer hard, I make change happen around me, often not even of my own will, but in reaction to who and what I am.

And when I shine, the universe blessed me fireworks and bombs bursting in air. I draw light in darkness, an alchemist of art. I am blessed and grateful, for both the bitter and the sweet, and more for the other fires I can light in and under others.

Peace,
Melissa