Weakness Rules

So yesterday I posted the following quote as my facebook status:

“You cannot run away from a weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?”

In my opinion too few people engage in this practice. They are either too cowardly to face it, or too ignorant to recognize that they should. They try to just pass it off like it will go away. To me this is a ridiculous notion. Robert Louis Stevenson (the author of the quote) was right on. If you have to face something that is holding you down, do it immediately. Why keep the monkey on your back. You are not the only one who notices this weakness, nor will you be the only one to notice when you face it down. Win or lose, in real life there is no draw, you will have ushered yourself into the next level of being by doing so.

Example:

The good friend of Mr. Stevenson,William Ernest Henley contracted tuberculosis as a boy and had to have his left leg amputated below the knee. His illness kept him out of school often but he kept going back. He did not quit. He faced down his illness. Even after his right leg became diseased and needed amputation, he didn't give up. He perservered in light of these set backs. He didn't remain bed ridden. He got up. He got his education. He got a job as a writer for a newspaper, and he happened to write one of the most profound pieces of writing that I ever had the pleasure of reading. In his poem, Invictus  he discusses the strength of his unconquerable soul. So few people possess this quality. Do you know how profound it is for an individual to have an unconquerable soul? To make no excuses? To admit defeat in nothing? I feel that as time progress through the 21st century people are becoming weaker and more dependent on society to do things for them. Too many of us think that we are owed something or that we deserve something. Well let me just tell you something that you don't always get what you deserve. And before you begin to think that this is taking a turn into the 'woe is me' realm i am going to tell you that yes, often I have not been rewarded for my good deeds and hard work. But there are equally as many times that I have cheated, stole, or slipped by when i did not deserve to. Hence, running around asking for what you deserve all the time could be a poor policy for a lot of us to engage in.

Weakness comes in all shapes and sizes so don't  misconstrue what I am saying. Not all weakness will be illness, not all weakness will be internal. It could very well be a habit, a vice, another person, an event, or a collection of things. Much like when you have many obstacles in life you can only jump one at a time. Do so with your weaknesses. Fight one battle completely. The best way to do so is to take them as they come. If you allow it to chase you for too long you may very well find that you have run into another weakness before facing the previous one. Now you either have to face down two things that you are running from or run from two things. it doesn't get any simpler.

So when our weaknesses threaten to drag us down, and we get that feeling like we are in a nightmare being chased by a demon, stop running. Turn and face your demons. Two results can occur, you conquer them, or they conquer you. When you conquer them you advance. when they smack you down, you dust yourself off and get back up and advance. Because what doesn't kill you can truly make you stronger, but only if you let it. And should whatever your weakness is end up killing you, at least you died on your own terms. You didn't cower and allow your last emotions be fear.

Be the master of your fate.

Superman out.