From the soil to the sky and back to the soil.

Treaty Oak. © Ryan Schierling

I am the lone survivor, the last of 14 elders. I have seen 500 summers and 500 winters pass. I am the senescent body and the blood of Comanche and Tonkawa, embracing, pushing away, giving and taking life. You cannot kill me, with one bullet or 100. Cut away the extremities, knock my crown to the poisoned grass and I will live on still, pushing from the soil to the sky and back to the soil.

© Ryan Schierling

There are cliches for this – trite, tried and true, emblazoned on motivational posters, emboldening those stuck in ruts and well-worn paths. What doesn't kill me may make me stronger, but it does not facilitate change if I keep going back to the same fight.