Citizen Wausau

Sometimes it just Turns Red

by Dino Corvino on October 21st, 2008

Days like today are less rare than I think they need to be. They need to be more frequent, to teach us all something. To teach me lessons about myself, about the world, and about those that surround me. It was one of those brutal days, days that never seem to amount to anything, days often ended at the video store with a large caraffe of mountain dew on my lap and a dog who has not been walked.

Today was not one of those days. today the world, today the people, today everything sought to grind against me. I felt my spine steel, I felt my resolve thicken, I felt my feet on the ground. I did not sit back, and take it and lay on the floor like an infant. Instead I did the things that were in front of me. I pushed back.

When asked for help, I helped. When I think about it, I felt better in that corner on the phone this afternoon than I had in a long time. I felt the corner turned.

In college I wrote this…

“I am weak
Looking to get stronger
When I open my eyes all the way
It’s all there is for me
Kindness is strength
It’s easier to close a door, than to keep it open
Hatred is easy
Frustration is life on pause
These are truths that are hard for me to deal with
I learned a lot this year
I think I am stronger than last year
Self-creation is painful
Trying to take my parent’s blood out of mine
Trying to stand on my own two feet
Without leaning on someone else
Looking to myself for total strength
To be
One
From
None”