The strongest man in the world is not the one who always towers over his challengers
Boasting the undefeated record, whose has never met a challenge that he didn’t overcome
Or the woman who manages to look perfect, act perfect and construct the perfect web
Of relationships and security, of appearances and approval, an image of perfection
Rather it is those who have faced the magnificent desolation of failure and rose again
Who can encounter the magnificent desolation and learn to see its beauty
Past the judging eyes of those caught within their own insecurities and crystalline lives
Who have had their worth, their beauty, their strength, and their very souls questioned
Those who watched their past lives vanish in a flash of light and out of the remnants
Rose again to reenter the arena, to risk again to create, to love, to try, to fight and to fail
Who have endured the gaping maw of anxiety and the abyssal pit of depression
Who may still feel the black bile occasionally creep back into their veins threatening to consume them
Or at random times have to remember to breath and quiet their heart as it pounds within their chest
Learning how to live in the aftermath of both failure and success
And find a way to learn from the past without letting it define them
Who know the grace of not needing to seek a better past or a perfect present
And can look to the future without losing sight of the gifts of the day
Who have the courage to lean on others at the times when their minds or bodies fail
And the compassion to stand with others in their desolations and celebrations
Neil White, 2014
Sign of the Rose 