I have seen men live out of fear, by default, or in the kind of hope that waits for life passively to deal better cards and takes little action to wring from it the nectar for which they thirst. I live for my goals and, while i have many of them, there is one that is the sum of others, that embodies both my sense of self and my defiance of those who tried to kill, enslave, and control me in the earlier years of my life. It declares that I have not merely survived, but I have thrived and on my own terms, and it is simply this: I did what I said I would do. And I live for that, still, to do what I have said I will do.