The foyer of Zac's apartment was buzzing with laughter and conversation. A few months had gone by, and the sun had descended from the sky. I was standing in the middle of a Thursday night virtual reality party. Brennan, Rick, and I had bought three Oculus Quest VR headsets to Colombia. We loved inviting friends over to play games and show off the amazing new technology.

As I walked through the large open room, I watched Brennan grinning from ear to ear as he darted from player to player, adjusting their headsets and suggesting new games for them to try. A group of four sixteen-year-old Colombian boys were laughing over in the corner, geeking out over a zombie shooter game. Brennan and his girlfriend, Erin, had randomly befriended the boys on a hike the previous weekend and invited them over to have some fun. The kids had never seen gaming technology like this before. A four-hundred dollar headset was an entire month's wages for many people in Colombia.

I loved seeing Brennan in his element. His passion for VR was palpable, and his energy and joy lit up the room. So much had changed in the past few months of us working together. Rick and Brennan had emerged from the Belly of the Whale as stronger leaders. I'd helped them create a new technology production line that alleviated their biggest bottleneck. They'd also started charging in the direction of a more scalable business model that would amplify their social impact.

"Who would have thought we'd end up here, working together in Colombia?" Rick said to me one day. "We've come a long way from primary school in Wollongong."

We certainly had. When I was sitting on the library floor with him nearly twenty years ago, I never imagined this. I never imagined I would, or could, become this woman. It had happened one step at a time, one decision at a time, one risk at a time, one failure at a time.

As I looked around, my heart swelled. To my left, I saw my friends, Forest and Hannah, chatting to Erin about their social impact businesses. Erin had built an audio learning program teaching English to Spanish-speaking low-income immigrants in the US. Forest and Hannah were delivering internet connectivity to the poorest communities in Latin America.

To my right, I saw Rick practicing his Spanish with a group of local university students. Brennan and Erin had participated in the 2020 Global Game Jam in Medellin, with about three hundred other creative game-makers. Despite Brennan's abysmal Spanish, they'd built a VR game called 'Holy Burger' over a forty-eight hour period with this group of students, forging new international friendships in the process.

I paused for a moment to breathe it all in. I loved seeing diverse people connect with each other, share ideas, and learn new things. It just felt like order to me. At that moment, all was good in the world.

The doorbell rang again. I snapped out of my joyful reverie.

"Hola, beautiful," Janet said as I opened the door. She was standing there with her husband, Craig, who flashed me a peace sign. For a couple in their seventies, they had the most exuberant youthful energy and passion for life.

"I like the new security system." Craig gestured to the baseball bat by the door.

I giggled. "It's our second line of defense, after the porteria. You never know who Zac is going to enrage with his big mouth, and I'd rather not be murdered in my sleep. Also, baseball is fun." I ushered them both inside and shut the door behind me.

We caught up on small talk, chatting about this and that. I hadn't seen them since dinner last week. They'd regularly invite me over for a home-cooked meal, plenty of wine, fascinating conversations, adventurous stories, and endless laughs.

I'd first met Craig about six weeks ago at my favorite cafe. He was sitting at the breakfast bar on his laptop one Sunday, slowly typing away. "They're beautiful flowers," he said with an American accent, pointing to the large bouquet I'd just placed on the chair next to him.

"Thanks," I smiled as I sat down. We started chatting about something or other, and two hours later, we'd diverged into topics of democracy, environmentalism, and the flaws of our education system. Craig was a published author and psychologist who'd once built up a toy retail business that now had over four hundred stores worldwide. He was passionate about children's education, free thought, and social impact.

"I'm writing a new book called Revolt to Live," he said. "That's what we need in this world — a revolution. We need to change on so many different levels. We're going to destroy ourselves if we keep doing what we've always done, but the systems that hold everything in place are so powerful and corrupt. We have to try, though. We have to at least try. We have to do something."

He was almost as old as my grandparents, and full of passion. I loved it. He inspired me.

"So, how do we revolt?" I asked. "How does David beat Goliath?"

He looked at me intensely. "We each need to stand up for what we believe in and fight. We have to be warriors. And I don't mean fighting against the old paradigm — I mean fighting for the new paradigm. Most people have no idea that there are so many innovative alternatives out there. There are incredible people doing incredible things all around the world in all areas — agriculture, conservation, politics, education, technology — and we just don't hear about them.

Just recently, a man who ran a butterfly sanctuary in Mexico was murdered, simply because he dared to stand up against the logging companies. He was slaughtered and dumped in a well, as if he were a worthless piece of trash and not a hero. He was just an ordinary man who cared passionately about butterflies, and Goliath stomped him into the dirt. But at least he tried."

"Jesus," I winced. "That's heartbreaking."

"It happens all the time," Craig said. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in when the system is against you. But we've had many revolutions throughout history. There have been many paradigm shifts. It all starts with one person and their vision. One person can change the world."

"So, are you writing about these stories in your book?" I asked, gesturing to his laptop.

Craig chuckled. "Have you ever written a book before?"

"Err... kind of. Not really, though," I shrugged.

"It takes a long time to write a book and get it into print. I'd rather showcase these heroes online in a blog or something quick to update, but I'm terrible with all this modern technology. I don't know where to start."

"I'll help you," I offered. "I can build websites with my eyes closed."

"You'd help me get a whole website up and running?"

"Sure! It'll be fun. I think you have something important to say. We'll get your voice out there."

And that's exactly what we did. Every Sunday, we'd meet for a few hours at our favorite coffee shop. Craig would sit next to me as I fiddled around on my Macbook, bringing his vision to life. It was a lovely creative project, and I found Craig's enthusiasm infectious.

"Hey," Brennan said as he walked towards Janet and Craig. I snapped back to the present moment. Laughter and music filled my ears once more.

I gestured towards my friends. "I've bought you a couple of VR virgins," I said. Brennan loved showing VR to complete newbies. He adored the look of joy on their faces and their audible gasps when a whole new magical world of possibilities opened up before them.

After leaving Janet and Craig with Brennan, I wandered back upstairs to the terrace.