Struggle Pt.2: He who Struggles

In each story there is a man who struggles valiantly. Against odds that he turns to his favor. He fights for love, lost or yet to be gained; sometimes to be rejoined with. He fights for glory, namesake, or honor. He fights for allies. He fights for a people or person. Perhaps even a nation. He fights for a goal that was, at the beginning of his endeavor, impossible.

Sometimes he does battle with his obstacles. Other times, he sets his wits against them. He falls, but rarely fails to return to his feet. He learns and grows. He gains control over that which he must do. He rallies his allies with ease. He treads his path alone.

He maintains his humanity in the end, though it may flounder from his grasp. He allows the foundations of his faith to be shaken but never crumbled. He questions himself always, but find balance in rewriting his morals. He finds courage in the strangest times.

Wherever his path takes him, he stands ready to crush his adversaries, be them external or internal. He not only carries the flag in hand, but also in heart. He tastes victory and does not turn his back to it. He makes the sacrifices he must, but does not cross the lines he drew in his soul.

This man of greatness. Of pure human quality goes by one true name, though many call him by several. He is not a martyr. He is not an idol. He is not a protagonist. He is not a saint, nor star, nor god. He is a hero.

Struggle

There are legends. Tales. Epics, stories, poems. Histories. All of them share a universal theme, whether in the subject or the composition. They are about man. The struggle of man. Man fights wars. For love, for honor, for power. Man explores. He seeks both secrets and truth. He searches for treasures, for completion, for answers. Man finds himself in the least likely of places. Man finds greatness.

There are unthinkable numbers of such stories. All of them about struggle. It is irrefutable proof that man, in his infinite wisdom, while searching for whatever it is that can fill the hole in his heart, must struggle.

What is struggle? It takes many forms, all parallel to each other. Externally, a man battles with disease, and inability, or an opponent. Internally, a man is faced with any possible number of things that he can only see glimpses of in the external. Man is constantly at war with himself. He loves and hates. He desires that which he cannot or does not have. He finds himself in contempt of himself. HE finds himself in contempt of others. Often a man struggles with what he believes. An internal or external struggle often begets the other.

In its many forms a struggle can be misinterpreted as suffering. Suffering is noted as needless or unnecessary. Ironically, 'needless' suffering can harden the resolve of a man to endure much worse of a struggle. Therefore, it can be said that suffering a struggle is never without purpose.