It is the oldest part of you, the part that was there before you made yourself convenient, waking up.

Do not be ashamed of it, and do not mistake it for who you’ll have to be forever.

Use it to see clearly.

Use it to build the case, save the home, tell the truth in a form no one can laugh off.

And then, when the battle is over and the record is filed and the guilty have been handed to the people whose job it is — put the coldness down.

Let the people who love you back in.