The Pain of Illusion

So here I am, naked and forgotten. I kneel before myself in a timeless display of self pity. "Get up" I demand. "Run and fight, you coward!" And just like that, I am standing and sprinting, fighting the battle of my life. I have slain mine enemy. I have outrun my foes. But their blood and sweat cries out to me, moans in my ears. The Problem still rides my back and it weighs more than I do. Strength is my transparent armour. The Problem keeps trying to penetrate it.

Wait. Is The Problem not a ghost, echoing into my hollow eternity? What doth it whisper? It whispers to the coward the truth of strength. "Sprinting, fighting, and hiding is not the way."

I decided to stop running. I decided to take The Problem off of my back and look it square in the eye. It wasn't pretty. It said to me through busted lips: "Soften thyself and be true." My transparent armour was not my shield…it was my dagger, plunging deeper and deeper into my flesh until I could no longer feel. The Problem pulled it out and urged me to start over. I am now pained.

So here I am, naked and forgotten. I kneel before you in a timeless display of courage. The Problem taught me that kneeling with dignity is the true power. I look at you now, with Determination's eyes and Humility's breathe. I reach for your heart, and remove the transparent armour. You may not understand it now, but I have just rescued you from lack of Pain. "Being unfeeling is not the way." The Problem knows all.