Last night I met the wind, the herald of the storm and it was vibrant and alive.
It roared up the face of the mountain and met me in the dark as I approached the mountaintop.
It said, "I am here, I am alive, I am a warrior."
And I smiled because I knew that I was talking to a friend.
"I bring the fight to the world. I don't back down" the wind said.
I laughed because that is the song in my heart as well.
I let the wind push my shoulders and tussle my hair. I braced myself and pushed back into the wind and I told it "I too am a warrior, vibrant and alive.
Then I climbed on, though my legs were weary, and bearing the slow burden of the climb. My body felt beaten down by all the fights we've been through, this mad battle to survive and thrive in this downtrodden world.
As I climbed I picked up stones that tripped me, stones that seemed to be in my way. To me, they were tangible symbols of the burdens of the world that I carry. So, I carried them on my journey to the top of the mountain, the stone that was my weariness, the stone that was my fear, the stone that was my doubt.
At the peak of the mountain I clambered up the highest rock pile and the wind roared around me, pushing me precariously. I refused to back down. The wind was strong, and this wind warrior roared in vibrant anger. "Do you know what I've been through to get here?" it asked.
"Yes," I said, "I have also walked the path of the warrior."
"It is long" said the wind.
"It is hard" I said. I raised my hands in triumph, "The road was long but look how far we've come," I laughed into the wind.
The wind acknowledged this and it no longer threatened to throw me off my rock, but it roared with me at the world.
"We are warriors. We have survived much. We are alive. We are strong. We are not going to back down. We still have a long way to go, but look how far we've come."
Then I found a perch near the top of the mountain where I could sit and reflect. The wind told me its story. It told me how much it has endured, all the pain and sorrow that has made it angry at times, weary at times.
"I am a warrior and I have been wounded, sometimes my wounds still ache. I have seen many troubling things but the world has not brought me low. I sorrow for the things I've seen. I rage that I cannot change them. I roar that I will never give up fighting for what is good and right and real."
I understood.
"I see you wind, I hear you, you are witnessed," I said.
Then I walked to a more sheltered place to rest a moment and the wind whispered to me some of the secrets kept in its heart.
"Sometimes when I am lonely I race to the top of the mountain to look down and see just how big and full the world is. And then I realize that I have friends waiting to be met everywhere," said the wind quietly.
It whispered that it was friends with every bush who whispered back to it in the night and that I too was its friend in the darkness of the storm. I touched a branch lovingly to say thank you for letting me hear the conversation between the leaves and the wind. Not everything that needs to be said must be said aloud.
"We are all warriors," I told the wind and the branches, "Some warriors go ever on in their journeys, like the restless and wandering wind. Some warriors sit in a still and dry desert and decide, against all odds, to make flowers in the barren wilderness."
The wind gusted in agreement.
"Anyone who refuses to give up is a warrior" I concluded.
The bushes nodded in agreement. The wind whispered that it had met many warriors on its journey tonight.
"Goodbye wind, goodbye friends, goodbye fellow warriors. I must go home before it is too late and too cold and too dark for me to make the journey," I said.
The wind went on as well for it had to announce the coming of the storm.
Then I started the long journey home. It did rain. I did stumble. And I will face many many more trials on my continuing journey through this life. But I am a warrior. I have known pain, and defeat. I have known loss and sorrow. But I have also known strength and courage. I have known triumph and joy.
Sometimes I am lonely but I am never alone. Sometimes I am weary but I never give up on my journey. Sometimes I stumble but I always get up. Sometimes I am beset by enemies on every side and sometimes I am aided by countless friends. Sometimes I fight desperate battles I'm sure I'll lose at devastating costs. Sometimes nothing stands in my way. Sometimes my heart is weary and my feet are sore and I long for rest, but I soldier on. Through the darkness, through the mud, through the pain, through the disappointments. I am a warrior, I carry on.
I wrote this in January (actually on January 29th after I'd been hiking on a night of either a full moon or nearly full moon). For some reason, I didn't publish it. I found it again this week and I resonated with it so strongly. I've been feeling very embattled and this raised my spirits. So, I'm publishing it now and hoping that it will give me new resolution and strength to keep fighting and that it may do the same for you, for whatever fight you are currently battling.
