I cried like there was no tomorrow as I watched the U.S. Women’s Olympic team’s 4×4 relay. It was a qualifying round and the team favored to win gold just dropped the baton on the last leg. Despite the embarrassment and public shame, the runner picked up the baton and kept going, running at the pace of the agony of defeat.
The dream of winning a gold medal — gone, but that moment was golden. What started as a slow stream of tears was now a full-blown weeping and wailing session with swollen eyes, a pressure headache and unsightly bodily fluids draining from my face. It was the ugly cry to end all ugly cries.
I was sad about the race, but this was more than disappointment. It was devastation, but not from what I expected. At the time of the race, I was five years into my life as a prisoner’s wife, living largely in the margins of my days on the corner of embarrassment and shame. I wondered, “Why don’t I have that?” That thing the runner had that made her keep going.
I realized for so much of my life I had been that baton, dropped, and left behind, at the mercy of others. But this time I wanted to be the runner. I wanted to be the person who picked up the baton, that carried on, that made the decisions.
I wanted to be a leader, despite being a statistic.
That’s when “she” showed up — Wonder Woman. I was born with an “S” on my chest. My birth name is Shereese. But, what emerged on the other side of those tears was WONDERfilled — rooted in love, justice and humanity. It was a mindset. It changed me. Wonder Woman became my personal mantra.
Don’t be at the mercy of others. Make your own decisions and run with them.
The truth is – all the world is waiting on you and the WONDER you possess because your story is golden.
No lasso required.