A Toast, to Us

Breathing Fire

From the second we're born, we're told how we're supposed to behave. We're told to be ladylike.

We are told to be polite to everyone, to say 'please' and 'thank you', and to always be kind to those around us. They tell us to sit properly, back erect, bum at the very back of our seats, and legs closed. Otherwise, we'd never find a suitable husband.

We are told that we are weak. That it is rude to speak out of turn, it makes us look vulgar and uneducated. Despite the fact that we had to fight for our education. We had to fight our way out of the kitchen, fight our way into the men's world' with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

I am not your delicate flower. Do not tell me that my opinion is not valid because I am a woman. I will not sit and be quiet, I will rage on like the fire that's burning deeply inside of me.

I will burn down everything you have ever known.

You 'men' want to be heroes, all of you. You all want to save the pretty girl from the tower, to defeat the evil dragon that guards the tower with every fiber of its being, to be crowned as king of the kingdom.

You want to be a hero? Don't be ridiculous.

I am not a damsel in distress. There's a reason I'm locked up in this tower, away from civilization. I am not some princess waiting to be saved, to be taken far, far away from here.

I am the dragon. I am the one that will tear you down. I'm the one that will make you run off of the edge of the Earth.

You will not belittle me with your calloused hands, and your flimsy swords.

I will devour you.

You can wait until nightfall to try to ambush me. You can come up with an elaborate plan to take down the mean dragon. You can try.

But tonight, tonight I'm breathing fire.