* who am i: personality poster *

I have slain the greatest dragon.
I have crossed the widest ocean.
I have climbed the highest mountain.

They call me brave.
They call me strong.
They call me legendary.

But I know the truth.
I am a coward.

I killed dragons to quiet my pulse.
I crossed oceans to outrun my shadow.
I climbed mountains to avoid my reflection.

I alone knew this.
Until today.

Today, I shall finally be brave.
For the first time, I shall meet the mirror.

Deep in the mirror waits the man I was too afraid to name.
Let him come.

This time, I will not turn away.
Let the question summon him.
“Who am I?”

“Who am I?”
Now, I bravely ask.
The mirror does not answer.
I ask again.
And again.

“I deserve the answer.
My resolve cannot be matched.
Test me.
Challenge me.”
Still, the mirror is silent.

I stare at the silhouette in the mirror, furious.
My eyes are clear. Yet I cannot see.
Why is my mirror without life?
Why is it without colour?
Why does it show only the shape of a man, and not the man himself?

“Who am I? Answer me! Show me!”
The mirror remains silent.

Then it must be broken.
Yes.
That must be it.

I have no time to waste.
I turn away.
I will not look at you again.

“Who am I?”
I ask again, in my final moments.

The mirror does not answer.

“Mirror, grant me this last wish.
I want only a glimpse.
Show me who I am.
Please.”

The silhouette remains blurred.
Almost mocking.
As expected.

I have no regrets.
I have lived a good life.

But if I could have another day,
I would run down a hillside bright with flowers.
I would laugh with my friends over nothing.
I would touch the world without trying to conquer it.
I would welcome joy, anger, fear, even hatred, again,
and thank them all for being mine.

The silhouette moves.
Thin streams of colour emerge from
different edges of the mirror.

“Mirror.
Was I good to be around?
Did I bring warmth, or weight?
Did I listen when others needed me,
or did I wound what I should have protected?”

They begin flowing toward my silhouette.

“Did I keep my word?
Did I finish what mattered?
Did I chase too much, or neglect too much?
Did I meet life with laughter, courage,
and open arms, or did I hide from the world?”

The colours enter my silhouette.
For the first time, there is life in my reflection.

“What did I fear?
What did I do with my anger?
How did I carry my grief?
Did I stay curious, make room for beauty,
and let the world remain strange?”

The colours swirl inside my reflection.
Finally, I begin to see myself.

Smiling, I breathe my last.
I had been asking the wrong question all along.