Choices…

My stepfather was a violent man. I remember being a young child, and asking my mother why he did the things he did. I remember that she told me he couldn’t help it – that he had been raised like that, and didn’t know any better. I remember thinking that was the biggest load of BS I had ever heard. I remember thinking that the very fact that he had been treated this way, and knew how it felt, was all the more reason that he should never, ever treat another person so brutally. I remember thinking that from that moment on, I would use every hurt, every challenge, every fear, every sadness – to learn how to be a better person; to learn how to be more gentle, more kind, more loving, more sensitive, more considerate, more compassionate, more of a comfort to my fellow humans & myself. I made that choice. It hasn’t been easy, especially when my internal battles have raged hot & left me ravaged. But I made that choice. I made that commitment to myself. I made that commitment to my children. I made that commitment to my partner. I made that commitment to you. And I wouldn’t change it for the world…