Resilience

In the midst of adversity and in the face of pessimism, is a little girl becoming a woman.A little girl, more or less a minor, going through mental instability, psychological stress, financial setbacks, emotional flux, physical distress and spiritual adversity.

While indoors, she fights peer pressure and when outdoors, she fights peer influence. Inside, she watches her peers go out, to parties, clubs, motels, hotels and brothels. She's asked to join but she says a firm "No!", knowing that that's not the purpose why she's there. Outside, she watches cabs and cars drive past her, young girls and boys like her wasting their lives and wallowing in the shallowness of fruitless ecstasy.

In school, she's faced with frustrations and fears of the unknown. Tests and exams written with doubt, assignment done with no hope of getting complete marks, and wanders about under sun to attend lectures that get cancelled at the end of the day. All because she wants to pass with flying colors.

She wakes in the morning and after her prayers, checks her account balance. She shakes her head and swallows bitter tears, account "red". She prays for a destiny helper but answers seem faraway. "Have I been forgotten?", she ponders and wonders.

She's being coerced and persuaded to get into a relationship, or maybe a "situationship". but she turns all of them down, and says she gets distracted easily and would not want to get into something she's unsure of the future.

But in the midst of all these, lies a strong woman, ready to be unveiled. A woman of virtue, substance and value. A beauty with brain, termed a "scholar". She's optimistic, self-aware with a high self-esteem. A girl ready to stand out and loudly proclaim, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" She is the girl. I am, the girl. El Shava.