You were told pain would change you. You were told the cracks would make you new. Look closer. The cracks didn't make the gold. The cracks revealed the gold. You were gold the whole time. You just couldn't see yourself yet. Suffering isn't a forge. It's a mirror that doesn't lie. When the surface broke, what showed wasn't damage. It was the substance you were always made of. You didn't become. You were uncovered.