There was a moment — maybe more than one — when it felt like the damage had already won.
It wasn’t loud.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It was quiet. Relentless. Reputational. Digital.
And once it started, it didn’t stop.
One article. One post. One version of events told faster, messier, and louder than I ever had the chance to respond.
They didn’t just tell their side.
They deleted mine.
That’s what misrepresentation really does.
It’s not just about being lied about — it’s about being reduced. Shrunk down into something recognisable enough to mock, and far enough from the truth that it no longer feels like your own life.
I wasn’t supposed to come back from that.
Not because I couldn’t — but because they didn’t expect me to.
They expected silence.
They expected shame.
They expected me to carry what they wrote without ever questioning it publicly.
But I did question it.
And when I realised no one else was going to correct it, I did it myself.
One post at a time.
One fact at a time.
One broken assumption at a time.
This blog isn’t a brand. It’s not a project.
It’s survival.
It’s evidence.
It’s the quiet, consistent rebuilding of something that wasn’t just damaged — it was dismantled.
And I’m writing it all down. Not for attention, not for sympathy — but for control. Because control was the first thing they took. And this is how I take it back.
Not through revenge.
Not through rage.
But through record.
Because while their version may have reached more people, it didn’t reach deeper.
It didn’t last.
It didn’t stand up to scrutiny.
But mine will.
So if you’re wondering why I keep writing, why I keep speaking, why I haven’t just “moved on” like some would prefer — it’s because I never had the luxury of moving on.
I had to stay.
I had to defend.
I had to rebuild from inside the wreckage.
And if that makes people uncomfortable?
Good.
It means the truth is finally getting through.
I wasn’t supposed to come back from this.
But I did.
And I’m not done yet.
— Calvin-Lee Hardie
Truth & Advocacy By Calvin-Lee Hardie - Inverness 