Once Upon A Time There Was A Brave Princess Who Saved Herself

Once upon a time there was a brave princess who saved herself. An anonymous princess, the child who walks down the street all day and is not afraid of the sun or the wind. The type that stumbles, but also the type that gets back up, who collects fears but also victories and interesting secrets. No one is talking about its value, but that is not necessary at all. For she carries the value written on her heart.

She didn’t need a brave prince because instead of curled up in a corner in the cell, she had the courage to look out the window and study the dragon’s weaknesses. Because she studied chemistry, so she could forge a quick and effective antidote to the poison before it paralyzed her. There were no princes or kisses in this story, for her courage came from within and not from inspiration. She charged her courage by acting instead of waiting.

We’re talking about a princess who walks through life with her eyes wide open.

A brave princess who saved herself

She saved herself because she had parents who understood that she had tremendous potential within her. So they had no problem nurturing her dreams, even if they didn’t have much pink or purple in them. Even though as a little girl she never dreamed of playing with plastic babies or coloring or combing her doll’s hair. There were no problems because they never felt there was anything wrong with that difference.

She saved herself because she wasn’t naive and immediately found her grandmother suspicious the moment she saw her lying in her bed. So the wolf didn’t get a chance to eat her. It was the princess herself who picked up the shotgun and started the fight. She was the one who handcuffed him and took him to the police station. One by one, the brave princess tricked all those devilish characters she encountered.

A princess who doesn’t need anyone else

She needed people, of course. But never a prince who would read her the same script that the minstrels have endlessly repeated in their apparently innocent stories. She needed people around her, simple mortals with myriad defects to help her. They would give her choices on how to act or sometimes even show her the best choice, but she never needed someone to do it for her. But still, if someone did, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to thank that person and give them something in return.

For the princess,  who saved herself, understood that we live in a world where reciprocity works and can be expected. But in that reciprocity, she didn’t always have to be the one to be rewarded with kisses and love. It could also be she who rewarded with kisses and love. As a savior, because she was very good at that.

She did it every day when she went to the hospital, put on her white coat and braved the diseases that lived in the bodies of others. When she thought of a world where no man would look over his shoulder at her, and no woman would neglect her for being a woman like her. When a lot of variables were included in the I can or I can’t equation, variables like fatigue or limited resources, but never her gender.

A princess who was proud of who she was

The brave princess who saved herself was proud of her sensitivity. There were parts of her body that she would have designed differently, but she still thought her nose and ears had a wonderful something. They made her unique and also worked so perfectly that they allowed her to smell or hear someone else’s heartbeat. Over time, she learned to love them and appreciate everything that was given to her, even if it wasn’t necessarily what she wanted.

Once there was a message she read that was written in stone saying that  it is intelligence to love what you cannot change,  and this stuck with her. It stuck with her, just like the message that was painted on the train station where she came every day: ‘there is life before death’.

Since then, she’s adopted these spells as her own, without ever thinking that she has a special origin. She simply thought that what she was doing was a result of her skills. And this is how this brave princess, who may seem fragile, saved herself.

Image Courtesy Shara Limone