This article was the penultimate post before I officially broke the news about my parents’ abuse. It is an emotional introduction to my goal in writing the series. -Repost note 3/20/18 

The story goes like this.

A man once grew old, and in his age, he also became ill. One night he had a dream, and it was full of epic symbolism, and revealed to him the meaning of his life. He saw that the illness would kill him. He saw also that the illness had been fated to him, that it was a curse placed upon him at birth.

If only someone had blessed him in his infancy, he would not have had to die prematurely. If there is such a thing as prematurity when dealing with tales of the fates.

When the man awoke from his dream, he pondered the omens he’d seen. He considered going back in time, to when he was a child, so someone could bless him. He lamented his plight, saying he’d never felt so alone as when he’d witnessed his lifetime in the dream.

Then he realized something.

He could not go back in time and be blessed as a child. But he could find a child and speak a blessing, and prevent that child from the same fate.

So, just before he died, the man asked that a child, marked with the same destiny for illness, be brought before him. The illness was not contagious, so the mother did not worry when the man placed his hands on the infant’s small forehead. The man spoke:

“Bless thee, and keep thee forever.”

This epic tale is cryptically and beautifully told in this song.

And whenever I feel as though my pain is not worth feeling, and my work is not worth publishing and passing on, I remind myself that I can bless the children around me. They need not experience the same things I did. They might be spared through my willingness to take my own experience, and turn it into blessing. They might learn from my wisdom, though I must never take my age as an excuse to condescend toward youth.

In all my stories, I put the phrase “bless the child moment” somewhere in the outline. It is important that every story contains this element.

It is the longing of every person who strives to live the epic life: pass it on. Make life for the children of the time of our age, better than our childhoods were. Cure the illnesses we endure, even if we cannot receive the cure ourselves. Bless the child.