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[marsy]

[div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.2;"]LIONHEART & ICHOR
"Tell me who you are."
22 February 2019

[align=center]Lionheart & Ichor

When I was in elementary school, from preschool to fifth grade, I was a shy kid with an inability to say “no” and a knack for crying if I got in even the tiniest bit of trouble—although I’d argue that I was not the one who should have gotten in trouble all those few instances. I was quite possibly one of the most sensitive, submissive, spineless kids in the state, and at the time, I was too young to realize that it wasn’t a good thing to be the teacher’s pet, or that saying ‘no’ was a very important part of life—I was too innocent and sheltered.
In first or second grade, I was on the playground during recess, watching as kids giggled and laughed with their friends as they tried to climb up the slides. I wanted to have fun and be cool, too, so when one slide was clear, I smiled so bright it hurt my face, and I stepped up onto the bottom of the slide. I hadn’t seen the teacher coming up behind me, and I nearly cried as they pulled me away and told me to go stand against the wall—that was the punishment for doing something “bad” at recess, like climbing up the slides, except I had been the only one who had ever gotten in trouble for it. I was too upset to say anything to defend myself, so I let myself be taken to the Great Wall of Shame with tears in my eyes, watching the other kids who had been climbing up the slides continuing to do so with a wistful gaze.
Maybe I shouldn’t have followed after those kids like a ‘sheep,’ as some would say, but what do you expect from a shy little kid who had very few friends? Everyone wants to fit in and belong somewhere, and I was—and still am—one of those kids that never fit in anywhere, no matter how hard I tried. Until just recently, I thought it was horrible that I didn’t belong anywhere—I was some sort of weird straggler, desperately looking for somewhere I could fit in.
Now, I realize that was never the path I was intended to go, or even want to go. I can’t sit in one group for the rest of my life, or pin myself to one place and one thing—I was always meant to travel the world, integrate myself into all different kinds of groups of people, immerse myself in all different cultures, and truly experience the world. I was never meant to stay put and “belong” to something or some group—I was born to create myself and shape myself rather than let the binding of belonging keep me from reaching and grasping the person I am.
I was made from stars, given a lion’s heart, and the blood in my veins runs gold—and I fully intend to show the world just what I am made out of.