Grasping for a Metaphor (As Usual)

So I tripped and fell on my face. A mouth full of concrete and everything. I don't remember why I was in such a hurry. Sometimes I just run home from places, so I can get home faster. Either way, I was running, and I ate shit. My iPod clattered to the ground with the pronounced skid of scratched metal. My backpack threw itself off my shoulder in desperate hopes of avoiding impact. And everything tumbled to the ground right in front of these two girls, who of course asked me if I was okay. Embarrassed and unwilling to show any vulnerability or pain, I quickly scrounged up everything I had dropped. I gave the girls a nod of, "Yes, I'm fine, I'm alive and breathing so please stop looking at me with that horrifically pitiful look and just pretend that this singular encounter never happened," and ran all the way home. Brushing the dirty and leaves from my chest, laughing at myself, ignoring the dull moan of pain from my wrists, arms, knees.

The incident was a lot of things to me. It wasn't a surprise, that's for sure. I've always been too clumsy and gangly to control all of my absurdly long extremities. It was a little embarrassing. But luckily, I'll never have to face those girls again. And even if I do, I take comfort in the distortional quality of the darkness. We probably wouldn't even recognize each other. It was painful, but what's life without a few scrapes and bruises anyway?

Most of all though, it was damn exhilarating. And, to me, it was a moment that reaffirmed a lot in my life. It made me remember how hard everything worth fighting for is. And how much strength I possessed, with which I could fight in the first place. And what was WG to me anyway? Literally speaking, it was two horrible years of bitterness and anger. But in the grand scheme of things, it might as well have just been a trip and a fall (a bad fall maybe), on my way home. And no matter how banged up or bruised I was as a result, look at how quickly I could pull myself up and dust off the incident.

I wasn't strong, but now I am. You can throw what you want at me. You can push me down and spit on me. You can say mean words, or throw punches, or try to tear down my resolve. But I'll always get back up and dust myself off. I'll always keep fighting and running and pushing.

I used to be weak and vulnerable. I used to lack hope and resolve. But look at me now. Now, I feel impenetrable.