The ability to trust again.

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

I staged my first public protest when I was 13 years old.

I stared my Form Tutor directly in the face and refused to partake in the class Assembly centred on trust.

Immediately challenged, my overly confident, assertive but curtly direct response ‘There is simply no one on this earth that I trust, so I will not stand and promote something I cannot understand.’

The cold, hard stare is still etched in my memory. Of course, I did not avoid consequence for this display of disobedience.

A classmate who supported me suggested I help her make props. I was creative after all. Therefore, I was fulfilling the expectation of participation, but I was behind the scenes.

We spent hours punching holes out of pastel coloured paper scraps, discarded and surreptitiously acquired from the art room. Stood atop the balcony together and scattered the audience below with confetti.  Naturally, I was on swift clean up duty before rushing to next class. It was worth it. I did not desist. I never desisted.

I did not realise the paradoxical irony of it all. Having spent my entire life investing far too much trust in people.  Consistently disappointed, let down, rejected, discarded.

I look for the positive in any situation and that will never change.

Again, I will not desist.

The walls are just constructed so high.

An architectural design I implemented myself.

Sculpted from ashes and blood.

But are they indestructible?

X