Boiling water

On this planet there are so many of us who are suffering, so many of us who need help, so many of us who are alone.

I feel so helpless sometimes, so powerless. I wish I was more than human. I wish I could heal all the wounds. I wish I could carry all those who are too weak to walk. I wish I could do so much more than what I do now.

Why is it, that all the stories involving heavenly and almighty beings have occurred a long time ago in the past? There are so many more of us now, so many of us who are desperate, so many who need sheltering, so many who need a hand. We need some magic in this world, but this world is so harsh and hostile that it reduces our imagination. Imagination is at its greatest when you are still naive. Who can claim their naive side is still intact in today’s world?

And if there is indeed a conscious god, somewhere… Is it testing us? Is this a trial, an experiment? If so, then shame on it. Because it is almighty and eternal. It does not know how it is to be weak and mortal. It cannot comprehend the suffering that we endure. And yet it watches us. It watches the destruction it has caused. Because yes, it is responsible for it. It created us. And if it is as almighty as people say, it could predict that we would come down to this. It knew we would hurt each other and hurt ourselves. It knew there would be thieves, rapists and murderers all over the planet. If it created everything, then it created wars. Some claim it made us equals, but there are people who live in harsher conditions than others. No, we are not equals. There is no equality in our world and we all know it.

Wake up. We have to change our ways. We have to reinvent ourselves. We have to help each other. We are connected. We are all one, if we want to. We have to ally. We have to congregate. We need to trust each other. We need to be who we are destined to be. We are the God. The God of the strong. The God of equality. We have the power inside us. It is sleeping. I feel it is about to wake up. I feel like we are all under pressure and that something is about to pop out of this. We’re like water boiling in a teapot. Like an air bubble underwater. Something is going to happen. Something has to happen.

But what will happen? What will trigger it? When will it happen? I wish I could know. I wish I could know.

We are what we were

There’s a lot of things in this world. Things we see every day. Things that have an incredible impact on our daily lives.

Television and computers.

Sports.

Politicians.

Electricity.

Movies.

Computers.

Cars.

Money.

But these things weren’t there at the beginning. What was there?

Friendship.

Love.

Hate.

Sadness.

Fear.

We must not forget our roots. We must remain humans. We are what we were, centuries ago.

Remember Christmas

As I am writing this, on a cold november night, snow finally settled on the ground for good. A piano and a gravely voice resonates within my head. There are unusual lights all over the neighborhood. People are preparing for Christmas. There’s something going on inside the children minds. Magic. I still remember it myself. I have to remember it. I have to keep this within me.

I opened the window to let some fresh air enter. The scent of renewal filled the house. The fireplace keeps the warmth inside, however. I have a cup of coffee. I have enough. I have it all.

Sometimes I hate myself for living in North America and sometimes there are moments like these.

There are times that you must enjoy what you have. Naively.

The song is ending.

Freeway, cars and trucks. Freeway, cars and trucks. Freeway cars and trucks.

Sickness

When I am very sick, lying on my bed, I feel like I am leaving my body. I do not feel my legs and my arms. I feel my chest and my head, however. They seem to be the anchors that keep me from levitating, flying, vanishing out of this body. Sometimes I close my eyes and I feel like I see things underneath, in between and beyond the darkness.

When this happens, I appear to travel at very fast speeds in worlds I cannot comprehend or describe. Everything changes its own shape extremely quickly. At some point, aggressive, repeating images keep coming back and I have to open my eyes and rid my mind of this madness.

When I am very sick, lying on my bed, I often feel like I am very skinny or very fat. When I dream, I experience violent and disturbing events. They become so disturbing that they wake me up.

Sometimes, when I think of these moments, I feel like something is desperately trying to use this feeble state of mine in order to do something to me. I have the feeling that some sort of entity, a being, is attempting to do me harm. I cannot explain it even to my own self, but it seems obvious in some way or another. There is something evil that is fueled with envy and hatred towards us.

Tip of the day

Step 1: Write your greatest dreams on a sheet. All of them. Make a list of the things you want to do before you die.

Step 2: Once you’re done, throw this paper away.

Step 3: Think about something greater than everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

Who you are

During this session, we discussed the need for the patient to spend time within the wilderness. He is an avid hiker. As a nature adventurer, he recalls many stories that appear both natural and supernatural to us.

 

” I remember one particular moment within nature. I was in my canoe. During the entire day I had been travelling using my canoe against a very large, reckless and merciless river. Sometimes it was so hard to go through it that I would get out of my canoe, walking on the rocks that were standing out of the water, trying to move my boat using all the strengths that I had. Sometimes I would unload the canoe on the shore and walk on the borders of the lake in order to skip a very difficult part of the river. It was extremely hard physically. I wanted to go to a lake that my grandfather’s old friend had told me about. He showed me an old map of the area. He pointed a large, long lake shaped like the tail of a fox.

” If you get there, Rusty… Kid… You will find yourself. You will know who you are. ” he said.

I knew something was up, heh. That old indian never told us about his secret places. I thought he was joking and that map was fake. I had never heard about this lake and it seemed so large that I couldn’t believe no one had told me about it until then.

When I finally arrived at the lake, I searched for something. I did not know what it was exactly, but since I was told I would find myself, I was expecting something very special. Maybe something belonging to his old, almost forgotten tribe? Or maybe it was just some prank? Still, the lake was there… He wasn’t lying about that part…

I spent about forty-five minutes canoeing on the fox’s tail. After going to the limits of the lake, I turned around and prepared to go home. Then it struck me. When I came back, I saw it. I saw everything. The sun was setting and the lake was reflecting a golden honey light. The trees were green, strong, tall, massive. The water was completely calm. A mirror. That’s when I realized what he meant. That old indian was wiser than I had thought. He knew it would take me a complete day to get there. He knew I would go to the edge of the lake. He knew I would come back. He knew that when I would turn around, the time would be right for a sunset. And he knew, just like I knew at that moment, that you find yourself by turning around, going back to where you’ve been. I found myself. I found out that I was strong. Strong in my arms, yes, but also strong in my will to go to the end of things. I worked hard to get there. The river had been against me. This time, as I would go back, I would flow with it.

For I knew who I was. ”

Nightly Walk #3

Tonight I walked in front of this old school I used to go to many years ago. It’s still the same but with minor differences. The swing sets are gone. Some bricks are mildly undone.

I wasn’t the cool guy at school. I was the silent type. I was shy. During recess, I had some funny jokes to tell, and I was sure that they were funny, but I wouldn’t dare to tell them. At some point some cool guy would walk in and say something funny. I remember I wanted to be like them. I didn’t want to be bullied. I wanted to laugh and yell and act like a little man.

I remember this very cute and cool girl at school. I was so much in love with her. I think she was too. But there was this thing. This limit. She had cool friends and I didn’t. Sometimes she would reach to me. Sometimes she would come to me and talk to me but every time she would do this, some cool friend of her’s would jump in ” Hey, why are you hanging out with this weirdo? ” and she would leave with that person.

So I ended up watching her evolve as a young woman through the years. During high school she stopped coming towards me. We now were in separate classes. Sometimes I would sit in the cafeteria and watch her. Her boyfriends would never treat her right. I wanted to beat the hell out of them and save her. I knew I was able to treat her right. But I never had the strength. I didn’t have it in my arms, I didn’t have it in my heart and I didn’t have it in my soul.

Then I became very sick. I stopped going to school. I stopped going everywhere. I stayed at home. I read. I wrote. I listened. I watched. I began to think. By myself. I began to talk. I became stronger. Maybe not in my arms, but in my heart and soul. And that’s 2 out of 3.

As the years flew by, she went away like the others. I stayed here in my little hometown. I was alone, but I was also with myself. I found myself through these difficult years. I built myself. And now, here I am.

And there she is.

25 years

Well, we’ve been together for 25 years now, fucker.

I’m not ready to stop. What about you?

I think this is only the beginning.

Today’s something, though. It’s like stopping and getting out of the car and looking back towards where we came from. We took some time to check if the ride handled the bumps. The motor is still running.

Take a piss and enjoy the view, dude, ’cause we might not be stopping for a while…

Remember those brakes that kept us from going faster?

Well, I took care of them.

They’re gone now.

So watch yourself.

It’s going to be pretty fast.

We have a long way to go.

And I intend to finish first.

 

Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel!

To be a man

To be a man is not about overpowering others, it’s about using your powers in order to help them.

 To be a man is not to attack but to defend.

To be a man is to control your fears. Never put fear into the hearts of others.

To be a man is to teach. To be a man is to learn even when you are used to teaching.

To be a man is to know where and when to go.

To be a man is to accept truth.

 To be a man is to acknowledge failure and defeat.

To be a man is to face death and illness with courage.

To be a man is to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of others.

To be a man is to inspire loyalty.

To be a man is to respect all that is; living and not living.

To be a man is to care for those you love.

To be a man is to think before commiting an act.

To be a man is to forget about the pointless mockeries.

To be a man is to cry without remorse.

To be a man is to ensure prosperity.

To be a man is to teach your sons how to be a man.

 

 

To me, these are the requirements for those who want to be men.

Where were you, father, when I learned these things all by myself?

Nightly Walk #2

I chose to walk very late tonight. I wanted to be alone. This time, the lamp post chose to light up as I went underneath it. A woman had problems keeping her dog from barking. I think the dog was barking towards me, but I couldn’t see it clearly in the darkness. A very bright star and some feeble clouds were the only things I could see through this mess. People were arguing in a bar. I saw a very small truck of Japanese origin which seemed so insignificant compared to the huge vehicles we have here. I liked that truck a lot. An old abandoned terrain has now been sold and a small group of businessmen have started to announce themselves. I think I saw an old friend working at the video store. I went walking by an old graveyard and the leaves all around made it even more beautiful that it usually is. The few cars who would use the nearby street were briefly lighting up the closest graves. Many people who died during World War 2 were now there. White graves everywhere. All of them, so similar, so thin, so small, so sad. I thought about making some photography next weekend. I thought of my brother who is growing up as a teenager now. I thought about having a girlfriend. I think I am ready to fall in love.

Unison

And through this we shall reap and sow at the speed of light. We shall kiss and grow at the speed of light and through this we will clench our fists and face it all up front. We will sell our souls and buy the Gods and through this I thought it was the end, I though it was over. Not anymore, not anymore. Used to be something, used to be someone. I became many and we are now one.

Memories

Some guy nicknamed Joe Malone. Rita Hayworth. The desire to smell like cigarettes and smoke them. A snack bar, all white, red and brown. A woman behind the counter who would constantly reject my proposals ( and the proposals of the other guys ) by making me laugh with her tact and impeccable sense of humor. A post office worker who would always be drunk and disorderly. The love for vinyl disks. Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. A shoe factory. Machines and motors. Pride in the American flag. Bubble gum. Baseball. Julie Andrews. Ice cream. Arkansas and Ohio. A german shepherd. Taking good care of cows. Oil lamps. Blonde women. Fights with jealous people. An old wooden enclosure. The hate towards plastic objects. The desire to drink whiskey. Having a son. Losing a huge sum of money. Coca Cola bottles made out of glass. Typewriters. Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Hanging out in outdoor cinemas. Collecting marbles. Respecting my elders. Doubt towards progress. Peanuts, pop-corn and cotton candy. “Beat Generation” writers. Fishing. Wooden surfaces. Pastel colors.

 

This all comes out of nowhere in my life, both through dreams and in my waking hours, with a strong feeling of nostalgia.

Like foreign photographs in my private album.

Yet, I feel this is part of me. I feel I was part of this.

Nightly Walk #1

The weather is getting colder as the summer is truly going away. A fresh scent of renewal is now in the air. As I passed underneath a lamp post, the light flickered and went off. I always see this, for some odd reason, as a good omen. At the street corner, two cars didn’t know who should go first. They seemed so uptight and nervous. I don’t understand it anymore. I went to the center of the city, where most lights are, where life is flowing. People would still be doing the same things. Most of them wouldn’t talk, they would simply do what they usually do. Two men were adding gas to their respective cars. I encountered two very quick walking men who were looking on the ground. Both of them seemed to be in a hurry. I decided to go to one of my friend’s house but he wasn’t there. I went in an empty street and walked in the middle of it. I sometimes looked back and walked backwards. I was the king of that street. I was alive. I was changing and I was finally realizing it. I smiled and went back home with a strong feeling of self awareness and optimism. I encoutered a woman walking her dog. I smiled as my eyes went travelling from the tiny dog to her beautiful face. That night, everything was beautiful. She smiled back.

” Good evening! “

I said it in such a spontaneous manner that I surprised myself.

” Good evening to you too! “

And we went on separate ways.

So simple. This is the power I have now. We all have it, but this world made us forget about it. I remember it now.

So annoying

You noticed me at school. You started writing messages in my school agenda. I didn’t like it. You were disturbing me as I was taking some notes. In between two hours of class, you would come to me. You kept talking and talking and I wouldn’t listen. You kept accompanying me as school was over. I wanted to be alone. When you would not be near me, you would be with your friends, laughing and talking, looking at me. Secrets. Secrets about me, probably. I didn’t like it at all. You were so annoying.

You called me at home. I never found how you got my number, and that made me angry. You kept on calling and calling. You never gave up. I ended up saying harsh things about you but you would turn them into jokes and come back again. I started smiling. You were so annoying.

I would always try and be fast enough not to be followed, but you kept on following me. Persistence. I began to tolerate your presence. I would listen and reply. I would come up with stuff. We would talk often on my way home. When I would arrive at destination, you wouldn’t even say goodbye. It wasn’t necessary, you knew you would come back. You would go back home. You didn’t even stay nearby.

At some point you wouldn’t walk with me anymore. I would stay at school, trying to find you. I couldn’t see you anymore. You were in class, but now you didn’t write anything in my agenda. You didn’t talk to me. You talked to another guy now. He wasn’t better than me. I was stronger and faster in sports. I was better at school. I had more friends than he ever had. But he appreciated your company and he loved you. I loved you too, but I just didn’t want to admit it. After all, you were so annoying.

Like thunder in your chest

When the trees swing under heavy wind.

When I jump into the water.

When he hit that homer.

When I start my car’s engine.

When a lion roars.

When you let go a spontaneous laugh.

When we kiss in silence.

When we make love.

When we argue.

When the moon reflects on the pool.

When a wolf chases a deer.

When I climb the top of a mountain and look back.

When I see an athlete beating a world record.

When someone is in a fight.

When a fire tears an old building down.

When the school bell rings and all the kids rush to the exit.

When thousands of people reunite and sing the same song in a concert in unison.

When you bathe in the river.

When I hear a strong, charismatic voice.

When I feel love, joy, fear and pain.

When her child walks for the first time.

When you believe in something.

When you feel something.

Like thunder in your chest.

Immunity

It is often said that when a human being is sick or suffers from an illness, it is because the being is weak. However, the ones who are sick during a long period of time develop higher senses of self awareness. They care for themselves more than those who are occasionally sick. Some of them become wiser and appreciate life with more passion.

 

” One of our patients has never been sick in his entire life. After some analysis, the patient proved to be perfectly normal with no apparent signs of invincibility. His immune system was not different from the others, yet he still never caught a single sickness, illness or disease. When asked about the origins of this phenomenon, the patient tells us that he has never been sick because he never allowed bad or evil thoughts within his mind, body and soul. At one instance, he was walking outside while rain was falling heavily on him. ” Why do you stay under the rain? Come in our house before you catch a cold! ” one man said. But the patient laughed and replied ” If you let your mind believe that you need to shelter yourself from the cold, then the cold will make you sick. I can walk under the rain because I enjoy rain and its attributes.”

Believe in absurdity

For many years, my nickname had been Credo Quia Absurdum ( I use it from time to time although not as often ) which means ” I believe it because it is absurd “. From this affirmation, I have been able to expand my mind in different ways. Absurdity has always been a source of inspiration in my life. Reacting and interacting with people in most different, unique ( and thus, sociologically bizarre ) ways leads to most positive results in most cases.

 

I first learned to behave like this at seventeen years old. My mother was driving to the supermarket while I was on the passenger seat. She had to buy bread and milk only, so I stayed in the car, waiting. At some point I realized that many people in the parking lot were looking at someone at the distance. It was a man, a simple, lone man, roller skating and whistling. I soon figured out that he was rollerskating to nowhere, making 8′s on the edge of the parking lot’s surface. He must have been in his 30s although it was difficult to say. He was certainly an adult and his gracious movements weren’t indicating in any way that he was mentally handicaped which led me to believe that he was simply in a state of sheer happiness. He wasn’t even whistling a song – it was merely a series of repeating notes that didn’t seems to hold any importance. This spontaneous act of abnormal simplicity amazed me. Was he in love? Was he free from some burden? Maybe he won some money or something? Or perhaps he didn’t need any reason to be that happy?

 

After questionning the man’s behavior, I soon found out that I was part of those who were watching the whistling man. I subsequently concentrated my thoughts on the bystanders. What were they thinking? Were they thinking the same thing as me? At some point in my analysis I saw in their facial expressions something that was highly similar to disdain and cynism which led me to believe that many of them were actually saying to themselves ” This man is obviously crazy. “. Others were smiling, yet they seemed puzzled. Suddenly, my mother opened the car’s door and drove away, removing me from my thoughts. I looked back towards the whistling man and he had vanished.

As if he had been a vision.

 

” I saw something pretty out of the ordinary. “

” What was it? “

” There was a whistling man and he was roller skating on the parking lot near the road.. He wasn’t heading for a particular direction, just whistling and skating, but at least ten people watched him and I’m asking myself why this simple man was so important that we would all take some time watching him. “

” I guess it’s because this kind of behavior is not normal in our society. “

 

My mother was right. This man, as simple as he might have looked, was doing something that wasn’t, in a way, tolerated. He, however, seemed to be perfectly sane and healthy and wasn’t doing anything shocking or disturbing, yet he caught the attention of many.

 

Through the years I have come to realize that this man inspired me more than any parental figure, friend, teacher, idol or mentor ever did. He changed my life. After some time, I became, in part, that man. Acting in different ways allowed me to meet people, make friends and unravel the personality of others.

Love

Will I ever fall in love? I don’t know.

What I first thought was love, I figured out was not. I felt desire, envy, needs. I felt a need for bodily contact, a need to tell other people things I have never told and a need to hear the same from them. I felt the desire to have certain persons in my constant company, the desire to be always in the same room of certain persons. I felt the envy of stealing one’s love from another. I felt the envy of being the center of attention of particular people. I do not know if this is love or part of it. Sometimes I ask myself if I fail to comprehend love or if I comprehend it too much for my own good.

I am now in a state of disillusion. I never had problems seducing women and I fear that I have started using this power in order to gain personal gratification. Sometimes I seduce women just to feel better about myself. I know that they love me and although I often feel sexual desires towards them and that I even tell them secrets about my life and even though I give them very deep details of my introspections and even though I listen to their stories, understand their needs and even though we sometimes can figure out what the other is thinking without saying anything… I just feel something else is missing.

I analyse people so much, and I cannot do a thing about it. I end up finding problems, imperfections, corruptions within people whether it be external or internal. I know that no one is perfect, and this is what’s been frightening me. I fear that I may never love someone fully in my entire life.

My own conception of love is perhaps not what it should be. I once thought that love would go beyond physical attributes of someone, but it’s a lie. I also once thought that love would make you forget about everything that is wrong, but it’s a lie too. Lies. Lies implemented by our hypocritical society.  This society I have always tried to evade in my own way. I never will win. I fear that one day I will have to fall into the masses like everyone else. I will have to love the way society wants me to love. But I am not weak enough to do so right now and I will fight the preconceptions and, perhaps, through this mess, will I create my own definition of love. I hope to recreate myself fully before it is too late.

The window

Our patient had his monthly analysis today. Here is an excerpt on his thoughts about his view on dreams in general.

 

” My eyesight during a dream is very blurry around the corners but very clear at the center. Sometimes I feel like it is clearer than in the waking life. I can sometimes see things from miles and miles away, as if I had the eyes of an eagle. At this distance, I can also teleport myself right to the faraway area I am looking at.

I see in colors. I see things that I sometimes cannot comprehend. I see things that reassure and scare me. I have a lot of difficulty to believe that what I see is the creation of my own mind like most scientists say. I do not have the feeling that I created the places I travel to in my dreams. I have the feeling that I travel from one world to another and that these worlds were created by something else, something greater than us.

Sometimes I can run very fast. I can run so fast that my dream body is changing into something else. My vision becomes more and more blurry. I usually can accomplish extremely high and long jumps when running at such speeds and I sometimes can fly at this point.

I do not know why flying takes such importance in my dreams. It’s as if my dreams were trying to tell me something. As if it would try to show me some sort of difference with the dream life and the waking life that goes beyond flying. There is something attached to the physics of our world that appears to be a deception to me. It’s as if something or someone is keeping us from accomplishing what we accomplish in our dreams and whoever is doing this created these laws of physics as some sort of barrier.

One day I read about a man who lived many centuries ago and was said to fly at will. At some point he went up very high in the sky and he was seen by countless men. Suddenly, he lost his power to fly while he was extremely high and fell to his death. What if this story was true? What if someone, somewhere, did find a way to recreate things experienced in dreams? What would it mean to us? How would it affect our world?

In my dreams I often see my grandmother. She is the one who first introduced me to the powers and endless possibilities that dreams can offer. She helped me to fight my nightmares and fears in dreams. When she died, I had multiple dreams of her. She would ask me ” How are your brother and sisters? “, ” Is everything alright at home? “. When in my dream, I was in a total state of lucidity and I was perfectly aware that she was dead. Yet, I just knew that it was her and that it was not a representation of her that I had created in my mind. Without proof, explanation and even without any thought put into it, I also knew that she used the dreams to visit me and talk to me. I had almost ten dreams like that. We would talk about my living life. She was always the one questioning me, and I didn’t even bother to ask her about where she was and how it was out there. I just knew from her way to act with me that she was at peace – a peace that will never be found here on this living Earth.

In the last dream, she was floating over the ground, but we were, as always, at my house and everything was perfectly identical to my real, waking life house. Our conversation went like this:

- Where am I?

- You’re at home, grandma. It’s me, Rusty.

- Oh yes, now I remember. Rusty, I have to go soon.

- Why?

- I don’t have much power left. I won’t be able to come back anymore.

- It’s okay grandma. I will see you soon.

- Goodbye Rusty.

I woke up crying, knowing that this dream was more real than any others. I had more dreams with my grand mother after that, but she was different. She didn’t talk anymore, but she smiled all the time. I have the undeniable certainty that this is some sort of image of her she left me before leaving. Now, I just know that dreams are some sort of window through some other world. It’s out there for all of us. We can already have a look through the window before the door appears before us. “

Multiple thoughts

I want to help. I care for others. I want to teach and to explain what is, what was and what will be. I want to lend a hand whenever, wherever. I want to help my friends when they have a hard time at school or at work. I want to be there when someone is needed. I want to help in order to help myself. I want to feel better by making others feel better. I want to save people. I want people to leave me with a better opinion of me. I am therefore egoistic in my quest. We’re all.

 

I am not a dreamer nor a fool. I know the world is harsh. I can deal with the craziness in this world. I know I have been deceived and that I will be deceived in the future. I know that I am and will be the subject of mockery. I know I still have weaknesses and that I always will be weak in many ways. I know. Yes, I know, and that’s the key to my success. Know your weaknesses. Accept them. Deal with them before they deal with you.

 

I want to be spontaneous and I don’t want my creativity, my happiness, my energy to be kept inside. I do not want to fear what others may think. Today I was walking down the main street of my city with a friend and I chose to make a test. I walked down the street with both of my arms constantly raised in the air. I knew it looked crazy, but I wanted to make an experiment. At first, people seem puzzled. Then they began to smile and finally, they laughed. Such a simple thing. Raising both of your arms in the air is enough to break the limits society built. What’s crazier? Me? Or the kind of life we live?

 

I feel ready for something, but I don’t know what. I still have that feeling that I have yet to accomplish something important in here. I have to get out of this place one day.

 

The night is my friend. When I walk at night, the streets are mine and mine only. The broken glass on the ground becomes diamonds and when I walk on it, an audience is applauding. You don’t get that during the day. The night is my friend. Sometimes I sense that I am more powerful when the sun is down. I remember as a child I used to hide and spy on people in the neighborhood. It was sheltering me.

I am strong

I am strong.

 

I build and destroy and I build again. Unstoppable, I stop the others. I cannot be kept. I am responsible of everything and when I am not, it is because I chose to. I control all. I handle all. I am strong and getting stronger. I can shout louder, I can run faster. I can lift things you wouldn’t dare to lift. I can imagine things that no other mind can imagine. I am unique and I am the best at what I do and I do everything.

 

I am strong. In my veins, in my muscles, in my head, in my heart and in my soul.

 

I.

AM.

STRONG.