Post by Candace on Jul 12, 2020 5:10:38 GMT -5
"I never experienced grief this bad before. It all started when I lost my foster parents, my world and my heroes. It sneaked up on me quietly and took me under its arms in an instant. Every memory played like a song in my head, repeating itself for what seemed like forever. I was lost mostly because I had lost a big part of me. I couldn't get that part back and I wanted it so bad as my life depended on it but it was all gone, vanished in thin air. I can't say it got better but it did get easier. At first, I thought grief was something bad that takes you ten feet under but soon I learned that it was just the price we had to pay for loving someone.
My name is Candace and this is my story!"
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My name is Candace and this is my story!"
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"And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, Who, when disaster strikes them, say, 'Indeed we belong to God, and indeed to Him we will return.'"
The Quran, 2:155-156
The Quran, 2:155-156
~ The scene from inside of St. Louis Cemetery #2, the sun has already passed the horizons to rise and shine. The Magnificent Dalia 'Candace' Mohammed standing inside the chapel surveying a simple coffin of an elderly lady. She detested that the dead have always been buried with useful resources. They have been given food, jewelry, money; but they are dead, departed, gone. They have no right to and no appreciation for this comfort ~
Candace: Sixty eight years on the earth and this is what her life amounted to; a crudely built six by two and half feet rough wooden box. No lining, no cushioning, no pretense that this is a place to put anything other than a dead and decaying piece of meat and bone.
~ The lid is propped against the painted concrete wall, a hammer and a box of large iron nails lay at it's side on the dusty floor. All that is missing is her festering corpse waiting to be laid into the baked earth. The whole situation reminds Candace of the burial of her foster parents ~
Candace: I could write a million letters, each one the same as the last in sentiment and cadence. They stay the same, only the word arrangement changes. It boils down to one thing, I miss them. This is our natural instinct to cry and remember our beloved ones. There is no sin in that as long as the person make sure that they don't go too extreme in their beliefs. Verily, to God we belong and to Him we will return. Yesterday it were my fosters, today this lady and tomorrow it might be ME. The gravest reality we tend to ignore intentionally.
~ She walks out from the chapel and taking her modest step down toward the empty grave where the deceased is sleep until the day of resurrection ~
Candace: We have feelings that are not visible, we do things to prevent ourselves from being miserable. Being honest is what makes us believable, for our feelings may not always be reachable. Ever since I came here I have attended countless funerals and I now used to all this. Whenever there's a funeral ceremony going on everyone's heads are down. Maybe it is them showing respect of maybe there are too afraid to look at what is coming. Don't they say that none of us will leave this world alive?
~ She pauses, phrasing her words before they are uttered through her tongue ~
Candace: Yet for my part I intend to leave the biggest and most beautiful footprint I can. Nobody is promised what his tomorrow will be like, but God sometimes does talk to you through your clairvoyance and mine tells me that I have a lot bigger jobs to do before I depart from this world. Of course you need to be aware that you have actually got that second sight, the instinct that makes you feel stronger, confident and help you understand the whole idea of progression. How ironic it is if I tell you that I debuted in ICW last year in July to win my firstever Women's Championship match.
~ A modest smile comes through her face remembering the memory of her first title reign ~
Candace: This year in the very same month of July, I have been rewarded an opportunity to strike at Strike Fantasy Tower to make upgrade my credentials when I face Apokalypse in one on one match for the Intercontinental championship in Singles match. When people hear the name of Apocalypse what do they usually think of? Ash and charcoal? Baren wasteland full of skeletons? No birds flew or sang? In a nutshell it sounds something like oppressive heat rained down like the breath of hell. But no matter how much it sounds like some kind of fire and brimstone, it will never be like this. Naming yourself Apocalypse and pouring the letter "K" instead of "C" will never influence your character. Look, you don't need a doctor's degree to understand that Gillberg acting like Goldberg will never turn Gillberg into him. You might be good in the ring, but I am better. Sounds familiar? This is what I told to Lucas Balkan and he understood it pretty well in my last two matches but maintaining a proper social distance from me. But you are different, Apo..! No! Wait! Calling you Apokalypse is a violation to the real word. Let me call you something like.. Ape?! No! Neanderthal - that is a very befitting term for you. Neanderthal of wrestling business, a little good but still need a whole lot of stuff to learn. I tell you what, let me teach you an art which is going to be less detrimental and more beneficial for you. Put your ego aside and be a conscious student. Because a real student is also his own teacher and his own critic.
~ The lady moves her head toward the grave and stares at the digged hole for a few good seconds without a blink of an eye ~
Candace: We don't like thinking that someone is better than us. Or that we have a lot left to learn. We want to be done. We want to be ready. Lets kill that detrimental ego which of course will eventually lead you to lose your IC title by me. But today's lesson will still be useful for your future endeavor. Sometimes we are too busy to be learning and improving. The reality, however, is that we must be learning if we want to keep going in an even manner. One must know what came before, what is going on now, and what comes next in order to be and stay great. A real student is self-critical and self-motivated, always trying to improve his understanding so that he can move on to the next topic, in our case, the next challenge. Thus, there is no room for ego there. When we meet this Tuesday night, your ego will try to manipulate you by telling you that you are already good enough to walkout the building with the Intercontinental title. Sounds like a prophecy, a revelation but, with a WRONG interpretation. Maybe the visual you see that you are leaving the match with IC title is a delusion. Or 'leaving with the IC title' is actually interpreted as 'leaving on crutches? on stretcher?'. I can think of a lot more worse situation but I have no intention to scare you. I want to have atleast 4 out of 5 star match and want you to put some of the effort of your own into it too. We got to put the lockerroom on the notice too, don't we?
~ She raises her eye brows as if she is seriously throwing a question to the rest of the SFT & ICW wrestler and want them to have their ears to her words ~
Candace: There is no shame to recognizing who the true ApoCalypse is: Candace! So get ready to bow down to your mistress and be her slave willingly or unwillingly. Stop following the shortcuts of miserable people who want to walk a glorious path on their own and get stumbled. The more effective way to the top is by keeping your head down and serving people from whom you can learn. Be lesser, do more and you would have a bank of favors to call upon down the road.
"An unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition"
Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
~ The Egyptian goddess shows a paper to the camera that reads the quote from the book, giving an indication to the reigning IC champion that being egoistic is really unhealthy and devours one's good standing just as the fire devours woods ~
