Hi.

Real quick, before you freak out and start shouting "She's back! She's back! Cassandra's back! I found her!" I want you to ask yourself something. You know who I am and what I can do. Do you think you found me by accident? I can look at any person and see their future; that means I'm very good at staying hidden. You didn't find me. I found you.

So, instead of shouting and jumping around, why don't you sit with me? I want to talk to you about something. Won't take a minute.

There. I knew you'd see things my way.

A few years ago, you had a dream. You don't have to tell me what it was. I already know. You pursued it, but things didn't work out. You gave it your all, and it failed. So, you gave up. It was a crazy dream anyway. You're better off now. And yet, here you are, still thinking about it. You're living...not quite the life you'd imagined, but it's still a good life.

I can relate— believe me. You and I are more alike than you realize. I also had a dream, a dream of helping out all of humanity. Anyone who wanted to do so could petition me to learn something about their future. Nothing fancy, no gambling results or anything, just straightforward advice.

It was, of course, an unmitigated disaster. That's the curse of Cassandra, right? People didn't believe me when I told them their futures, and then they hated me for what I did or didn't tell them. And so, like you, I gave up. I hid myself away. They hated me even more for hiding, but that didn't matter. Like I said, I'm very good at not being found.

Now, I know what you're about to ask. Why did I even try in the first place? Can't I see the future? Didn't I know how this would turn out?

Of course I did, obviously. I knew that it would fail, but I didn't know why. And I desperately wanted to know why. Why even have a dream of making the world a better place if it's doomed? Why can't I help people? Why is Cassandra cursed? What is wrong with me? If I never tried, I'd never have found the answer. And it took a while, but I finally figured it out. And when I did, it was like scales had fallen from my eyes.

The answer... is that there isn't anything wrong with me at all. There is no curse. It's just the way people are. People don't actually want to know the future. They think they do, but in reality, they just want to be reassured. I was offering them authoritative truth, and when it wasn't the truth they liked, they chose to disbelieve.

That was the lesson I needed to learn. You can predict a hundred coin tosses in a row, and people will marvel, but when you tell a woman the man she loves will leave her as soon as she becomes pregnant, she'll hate you for it. And she'll hate you even more when it turns out you were right.

I needed to learn that you can't make people believe. All you can do is give them reassurances.

So, I took what I learned, and I changed my dream. I can't help all of humanity. But maybe, I can help a few. Things are different now. It's less flashy— I mostly stay hidden these days. But in my own quiet way, I'm still changing the world, making it a better place.

Which is why I'm here. You see, you and I are more alike than you realize. No, you don't have any latent fortune-telling abilities. But, you did have a dream. You pursued it. You failed. You gave up.

And you learned something. And my advice to you —the whole reason I was waiting for you here at this moment, on this day, at this table— is that you should try again. If you want to. It will be a lot of work. But, it doesn't have to fail. Just take your dream, take what you learned, and try again.

Things will be different this time.