The O.W.E.

I think I drank too much coffee. No, I know I drank too much coffee. I feel a bit queasy. I'm a bit shaky. I'm on edge, but I'm not. It's still early in the day, yet I've duked it out with my O.W.E.

I thought of picking up some things at the store for making butter, but then I looked out the window and decided to play chess...with myself. What's that saying? You are your (o)wn (w)orst (e)nemy. And why not try to beat your worst enemy in a game of chess?

It was an intense game, to say the least. My own worst enemy is a tough opponent and I can see why I am my own worst enemy. In prison, my own worst enemy would tell me that I was a failure. My own worst enemy told me I would die in prison. My own worst enemy mocked me in my dreams, replaying the moment I'd killed my best friend, over and over again. My own worst enemy would have overtaken me, would have consumed me, had it not been for Homes. Homes took me aside, saw that my own worst enemy was closing in for the kill, and told me to snap out of it! And so I did.

Your own worst enemy is your worst enemy because it knows all your secrets. It knows what you're most afraid of, what you're ashamed of,what hurts you the most. But your own worst enemy, as Homes explained to me, helps you, makes you stronger, makes you a better person. Homes would tell me: "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble."

I think I understand...

So who won the game of chess?

I won. But my own worst enemy, being a sore loser and all, said before he left: "You might have won this game of 'chess' but you won't win them all."

I'm not afraid.