I am trying to reframe the season of paying off the mafia for the privilege of being permitted to run my business for another year. When I write that check, I tell myself, “This is the bully, the abuser, the prison guard, that you can’t escape, but whom you do not allow to destroy your spirit. They can attack you out of envy and stupidity, but they can’t understand you, and it is affront to them that you continue to build what they seek to control and destroy.”