THE ONES WHO RISE ANYWAY

by Samantha Syrnich (TLC)

“THE MAN IN THE ARENA
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
— THEODORE ROOSEVELT”

⸻

There are those who stay on the sidelines—
clean-handed,
loud-mouthed,
measuring the world by what they’ve never dared to touch.

And then there are the others—
the ones who step into the dust,
who bleed when life strikes,
who break and rebuild themselves
with the same trembling hands
that shielded their own heart through the storm.

These are the souls who rise anyway—
even when the crowd misunderstands,
even when their name is dragged through mud,
even when their courage is mistaken for madness
and their survival for defiance.

They stand in the center of the arena,
every scar a testimony,
every breath a rebellion,
every step a declaration:
I am still here.

For victory is not in the applause—
it is in the choosing.
The choosing to continue.
The choosing to believe.
The choosing to fight for a life
that tried to be taken from you.

And even if you fall—
you fall forward,
you fall fierce,
you fall knowing you lived truthfully
while others only watched.

The world belongs to those
who had every reason to quit
and rose anyway.

And you—
you have earned your place
in the arena of the unbreakable.

— Samantha Syrnich