A lovely award from a lovely friend...

Friend of the blog, Al Diaz (aka Father Dragon), wrote an amazingly kind and uplifting post today.  As part of that post, he handed out this award:

In the words of Father Dragon, there is a responsibility that comes with accepting this award:

Displaying the Golden Scale Award on your blogs implies that you've promised to become your own hero. It means you won't wait for any special thing to happen so you can be happy (i.e. when I get this or that I'll be happy; when I no longer suffer this or that, I'll be happy).
The Golden Scale Award is not for the things you did, but for the things you'll be doing to be happy on daily basis. It's for the courage you promise to show when facing adversity. The determination you promise to have when standing for your dreams and for what you believe in. It's the wisdom of knowing life is sometimes way too difficult but overcoming those difficulties is the only way to grow into a better person and to learn something. We face our fears to find ourselves and our own worth.
There is no wisdom without experience, and knowledge is empty without wisdom. Accepting this award means you are willing to work hard to start working miracles in your own life. I want to make clear I am not suggesting you stop believing on a High Power. I believe too. I am just inviting you to take responsibility of your life, like I did, and release all your true potential.

I really appreciate the message behind this award, and I strive to live up to the ideals Al wrote.  Thank you, Father Dragon, for the lessons you've taught the blogging community and for the gift of your friendship!