It’s the Season

It’s the season… so in that spirit, I will take this opportunity to give thanks. Not in the traditional sense of the gesture however. While I am truly blessed with health and opportunity, a strong support system of family and friends and the talent and free will to make my life what I wish, I will instead give thanks for the hard times. I will show my appreciation for the stress and struggle and all of the beautiful bumps in the rocky road that I have encountered on my way to this very moment in which I currently live and breathe. Bow your heads motherfuckers as we count our blessings. I give thanks for the heartache and disappointment and inequity. The letdowns and losses. It is from these defeats that I gain the knowledge and experience to win. I give thanks for the imperfections… the stretch marks on my chest, the fake fronts in my mouth, the calcified knot on the bridge of my nose and the grey hairs on my head. It is these flaws that have taught me that the value in life does not come from being the butterfly, but instead from the grimy metamorphosis of the larva that brings me ever so slowly towards glorious fruition. These are not flaws, but instead proof of survival. I give thanks for the dearly departed that left long before their time for the grim visage of addiction reflected in the mirrors of those I love… they taught me it can all be over in an instant, that we are all too mortal a species, that one man’s life for another ain’t living at all. It is for them that I carry the flag, for them that I have no choice but to stand strong and press onward. Be that they are the constant spector of a cautionary tale, the invigorating muse that illuminates my path or a guardian angel hovering above, through me and my deeds they will live forever. It is for the pressure, the pain, the yoke upon my neck that I give thanks, for these hardships have forged me by fire into my current form. What are you thankful for?

Pretty sure Machine wrote this. Happy Thanksgiving