The chessboard stood silent. Eight small pawns stood in a line. They were identical and waiting.

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But one wasn’t like the rest; he had a dream. He looked over the board, counted all the spaces between him and the last square, and whispered that he would become queen.

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The pawn beside him laughed, “We’re ordinary pawns. We step forward and get captured. Don’t waste your hope.”

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But he didn’t listen. He believed.

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The game started. Pieces moved fast across the board. Pawns were caught one by one. But he kept going carefully and with a purpose.

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“Give up,” said a rook sliding past.

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“You won’t succeed,” said a bishop traveling through.

 

Pawns can’t go backwards. But he never stopped. He dodged getting captured.

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Watched the others disappear.

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He kept going from one square to another. By the time he reached the seventh rank, the other pawns were gone.

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There was only one square left. He stepped onto it.

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All of a sudden, everything changed. Light surrounded him. Power filled him up changing him from the inside out. He wasn’t small anymore. He became a queen.

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He didn’t brag. He just turned around, ready to help win the game. The pawn did it.

Not because someone else told him to, but because he believed in himself even when no one else did.

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So, even when no one else believes in you, even when the journey is hard, if you keep going and trust yourself, you can become more than anyone expected. Even a pawn can change the game, if it believes it can.