They say Grendel was a demon, born from the line of Cain.

They say he was riddled by malice and impregnated with sin.

But I think he's a part that lives in us all,

Not a lurking evil, but something we fear because we just don't understand it.

You see, we hide the things that make us unique becuase we think we live in the minds of others,

But little do we know that, with the right care, anything can be polished into something beautiful.

They say rules keep us united, allow us to be efficient and productive.

They say the rule is " 'i' before 'e', except after 'c'".

But 923 words break the rule, and only 44 follow it,

And sometimes it's just not fun to play Tic Tac Toe with only nine boxes.

We conform, we squeze into molds, we stay inside the box,

Because we're just not seeing past our heavy accents and all the other "x" prints on our foreheads.

They say women can't drive.

They say men can't multitask.

But I say "Okay, maybe that's true in my case",

"But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!"

I, like so many others, hide behind veils of doubt, doldrums' of fear, and shells of shyness.

But I find that sometimes you just have to shut off that brain and take the plunge.

They say not to regard the man behind the curtain.

They say it's best to hide what makes us make mistakes and be different.

But I say, "Bring it on!", not because I'm braver than others, but because I'm starting to understand,

We have only have one lifetime to explore every inch of what lies behind and beyond that curtain.