We create walls around ourselves in our lives for protection and fortification, but when we no longer need them, when the situation we initially built them for changes, we forget to take them down. Our walls become a permanent fixture of us, so ingrained in our beings that we do not recognize them anymore.

Our defenses needed to go up for sheer survival, but when the ensuing battle is over we refuse to remove the armor. We are so used to the weight of the burden that we carry, we cannot imagine ourselves without it. It becomes us. But it was only meant to be temporary. We were never meant to hide in our fortresses indefinitely, peeking out from the small windows, afraid to come back out into the light.

When we do decide to remove our armor and step into the sun, we become vulnerable. We have nothing to hide behind. We are raw, unclothed, and unmasked. We are as we came into this world. Vulnerability is not a bad thing, it may be a little uncomfortable at first because we've been so used to being laden down, but our unprotected selves want to be free. We don't want to hide ourselves away, waiting for attack. What happened in the past does not dictate what will happen in the future. The only way we can really connect with one another is by being human, in all of our pure humanness. This means no walls, no fortress, no armor, no shields, no weapons. We meet with one another openly and defenselessly. When we are unarmed, others will disarm too. It may take some time, but it will happen. We can set the example, we can take the first step. We will only get hurt if we allow others to have that power over us, only if we arm them with our own weapons. When we have no weapons to give, no reason for a fight, no opinion to cling to, we will show what we can be, and what we can do. When we come at others with our true selves and our vulnerability, that is when we will emerge victorious knowing that there is another way to walk through the battlefield.