It is all too easy to choose mediocrity through passivity, to drown in a sea of honey, thick and viscous. A slow death. I have to be laser clear and impermeable. I have to be solid enough to let it roll off my flanks, to not be softened into uselessness. I don’t expect you to listen or anyone to listen unless I make it worth their while. I want to give people something, more than something for their efforts. A squalling child, a blind arrogant brute all want to be felt, heard by virtue of their want. Why don’t you care? Why won’t you listen? I don’t want pity or to trade in obligation. I want to be good.

- Hayley Bracken