Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a maiden so strong and fierce that the townspeople reviled her. They shunned her and stayed far from her home deep in the woods. They had heard stories about this fearless fanatical woman, horrible stories that spoke of her eating the towns people who dared venture past her home, holding them against their will and never releasing them. The towns people knew this to be the truth because the story had been shared for many many years, from generation to generation in fact.
This fearless fanatical woman had such a hold on the townspeople that they went out of their way to go to the next village to collect their goods from the merchants there. Not one brave soul would venture into the deep woods to travel to the next village even though they had an extra two hour walk to get to the merchant stores. Not one person, ever, stepped near this fearless fanatical woman such was the hold she had on the town.
During this time, deep in the woods, far from the village and the townspeople who spoke of her, the fearless woman continued her life work. She was tireless in her efforts, she worked day and night, often for days at a time, trying to finish her work before her time on this planet came to an end. She wrote and she wrote and she wrote, pages and pages of words, drawings, stories she shared from her long ago life that she hoped would someday be found if anybody dared venture to her home deep in the woods. Perhaps some day they’ll notice I’m gone and then my work will be found. 
She was lonely this fearless woman. She had tried to befriend the townspeople many many years ago but they feared her strength, her truth, her compassion, her integrity. They feared her because she was all they chose not to be, they spoke of love and acted from hate, they spoke of truth and shared only lies, they spoke of joy and lived only sorrow. She called them the truth seekers, the wanderers, the lost ones: they called her crazy, a lunatic, a demon.
She prayed for them every day, they spoke ill of her, they created fear in the hearts of all the towns people. She loved them, no matter what: they turned away, they could not accept that they were worthy of such a deep and compassionate love.
Until one day…there’s always a day when one little gentle soul says that this cannot be the truth, this cannot be the way it must be, there must be another way and that gentle soul begins to uncover the real truth. That day arrived finally and as one little girl made her way into the tangle of brush and thickets with her puppy beside her she sought only the truth from the fearless fanatical woman. She knocked upon the door and a very surprised look was on both their faces as the stranger lady opened it up. “Why are you here?” she asked. “For the truth,” the young girl replied and so they sat and they talked and the day turned to night and the puppy slept at the little girl’s feet. The fearless fanatical woman, the elder of elders, shared her story of love, of faith, of courage, of joy and sorrow with the young girl: she told her that life is beautiful and joyful and passionate and cruel and sorrowful and mundane and fearless all at once. She shared all of it with the young girl and, when the time arrived for the young girl to make her way back home, they embraced in a deep and loving embrace of knowledge.
The young girl knew the truth and it was not as she had been told. She had listened to her heart, had challenged what people had told her was true, had gone to great efforts to uncover the truth, to face that fearless fanatical woman and to bring it back to her people. The elder was never found after that day but the young girl, she grew up, she became a woman, a leader in her village, a leader in her entire community. When people from the town asked her what the secret was to her great success she replied, remembering her time with the fearless fanatical woman, ” I speak my truth, I live from love, I offer out, and receive compassion, I hold no judgements, I am at peace.”
My wish to all of you is that you too will uncover your truth, to run out of life before you run out of living! Now go be fearless.
