Olympus

I am not a child of a "lesser god"; I am not a condemned infidel destined to pay for his unbelieving insolence by grovelling at the feet of faith; I am a symbol of my creators need, a humble soldier in a holy army, a hopeful incarnation of sacred secret dreams.
Here I stand weak but unyielding, imperfect but proud, scared but brave.
It is my ideal that makes me so; it is my hopes and dreams that make me more.

My gods have earned their peak; they've proven themselves in battles against Titans and they do not just hold dominion over the creations in their own imaginings.

I am not a child of a "lesser god"; my gods do not promise me summits, if I were to just lie down and die in the mud. I must earn my heights, I must pay for my ascension with blood, sweat and tears, and I must prove myself as a worthy receiver for their kindness.

Until then it is their scorn that I feel. They fling lightning against me and laugh as I scramble to escape. Their cruelty washes over me like a flame that burns away excess fat and unwanted prejudices; I am burned hard by their indifference as I climb towards them.

These Olympian slopes speak of my recompense; they bear witness to my struggle.
These rocks are soiled with my flesh; one can chart my course using the blood trail I leave behind me.
I am tempted to sit and surrender to my body's need; every molecule within me screams for comfort, for rest, for an end to this climb but I will not allow myself to give in to fear and discomfort as most others have. I will not sit and excuse myself using childish illusions and adult delusions; I will be man.
The summit calls to me.

Those beneath me, dance unknowingly at the foothills; they cast insults and mock me in my insolence, to have even considered such an ambition, they build armour with their insecurities and weapons with their sense of inferiority and seek to entice me back down to their meaningless merriment, in order to justify their own inability to even attempt such a climb.
They do not comprehend my descriptions of the views from up here. How could they?
For them the world is flat and the horizons distant and hazy; mountains obstacles to be levelled into dust and used to build temples to their submission.
But I see panoramas that lift my soul. I breathe winds that cleanse my lungs. I feel sunlight upon my face and the rapture of being in my chest.

Limits are not flames to be avoided. Limits are destinations to be reached for.
I will not exist in the middle of my ability and search for the easy route that does not challenge my strengths.
It is in search of whom I am that I climb towards and this can only be judged by reaching my limits and wanting to go beyond them, above them; to stretch them into new positions, to redefine myself and give nobility to the human spirit.

I am not a child of a ?'lesser god'; I am a human being.