The world tells you what matters.
The world tells you what doesn’t.
It ranks and measures and shrugs.
It worships loud money, quiet conformity,
and calls anything else “unimportant.”
At first, when I didn't conform, I made a lot of apologies.
But here’s the truth —
I’ve been lying.
To them.
To myself.
Time for correction.
Who is Kobe?
The Black Mamba.
Arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Not because of the nickname —
because he faced his shadow,
wore it like armor,
and became something terrifying.
Why do people admire him?
Because he wasn’t sorry.
He was ruthless in pursuit of his purpose and his mission.
He led a team like a lion, and the new standard forced his team to become lions, too.
Even when that meant cutting down his brother....
Check it out.
I am NOT sorry for:
- Speaking my voice when the world prefers tiptoes.
- Stimming — the small, strange movements they write off as “weird”
- Living in my own world, because this one isn’t enough.
- Loving without conditions, even when they call it naïve.
- Giving people chances, when they tell me not to.
- Being a good person — and saying out loud when someone isn’t.
- Swearing in public (because words only sting if they’re true)
- Calling out fakeness — you can smell it on their breath
- Putting people in their place when they get too big for the room
- Being excited about my passions, even when they roll their eyes
- Chasing love, because what else is worth chasing?
- Wanting to be by myself in a world that fears silence
- Living my own damn life instead of the one they planned for me
- Never Giving Up.
The world thinks these things don’t matter.
I know they do.
I’m not sorry for being me.
Right through fucking chest,
Without remorse,