You are not as strong as me

Life flows through you
You seem to have it all
Awards, trophies scattered on the walls
This is clear, this is true, it has always been so easy too

Yet despite all this, no one would believe
You are not as strong as me

Life for me has been the opposite, it’s true
I seem to stumble and fall, I keep pushing

But clearly you are not as strong as I am

With nothing of value, just a home
An old rattling car, a house, not a throne
No one special, just a stranger
Somehow a warrior, a soul of his own

Battered and tired, still standing
Tired of the fight, proud to survive at all
Life didn’t prepare you, to stumble or fall
Force you to stand up and carry the ball
Goals fit with each passing year
Hardly a worry, never a fear

So on this, we can agree, that the one who discards, the one who ignores,
The one with a soul and much more
The one who has nothing against everything you have, the one who rises beyond the unknown
The one you can never ever be
In short, because you are not as strong as I am!

This poem or ballad expresses a large part of my life. I wanted to post, just without an explanation, but within the rules there is a minimum of words for articles. It makes sense to me. So I wrote this follow-up, this microcosm of my life and years that have created who I am.

In life, what defines us is not how much we have it or how far we have come, but how much we have grown. The old adage, “You can’t take it with you,” is said a lot but mostly ignored.

We lose sight of so many things in our ascent to acquire and be successful. Too often, people are so insecure, so scared of being who God created. They hide behind wealth, position, possessions; they don’t know who they are. If they were naked without any “things”, how strong would they be? Would they even get up? Even survive?

For me, this same experience happened. You could be an addict right now, a suicide victim, or died of stress; instead, I’m still here. Yes, it has taken its toll on me, but it has only strengthened my soul. It has made me aware of how strong I am. The core, our being, is the inner strength within us. Yes, we are all resilient to some degree, but how many times can you get knocked down and finally decide not to get up?

I am faced with this challenge often. Just when I think I have nothing left. Just when I want to say “enough”. In the depths of despair this inner voice rises, or perhaps it is an emotion. Whatever it is, the catalyst that catapults me to get up is “anger.”

Little by little I begin to stir, the feelings of despair are pushed aside and this surge, this inner impulse forces me to say: “Not today.”

In the processes of this discovery I come across many people, who at first evaluate the “possessions” and then determine the value of one. It is almost laughable that they are so entrenched with what they have, that if they lost everything, they would die.

What doesn’t kill us … is an adage, not a reality. Often it kills us or people would never die. But that is why we truly carry with us all that we are, all that we have learned, all that we have become.

Success is not always measured in this life. Famous painters die penniless, only today to have created priceless art. In his time, many would have dismissed them as useless.

I know a lot of people. I hope one day to meet someone who is stronger than me.