Think of the ambitions that fell. The novel you swore you'd write. The business you launched with a friend and then watched crumble. The language you started learning and then abandoned. These are fallen soldiers of the self. They lie in the graveyard of "good intentions."
Many of us stay stuck among the fallen because we feel we failed them. But guilt is a poison. The fallen do not want your guilt. They want your life.
But there is another kind of fallen that we rarely memorialize: the versions of ourselves that didn't make it.
: Worldwide, the "cult of the fallen" emerged strongly after World War I, where the scale of loss (nearly 9.5 million combatants) led to the creation of individual graves and massive necropoli to ensure that no name was forgotten.
But nature doesn't waste a tragedy.
And then, take a breath. Feel the ground beneath your feet. Notice that you are still here, still breathing, still capable of choosing.
To consider “all the fallen” is to stand at the edge of a vast, silent canyon and shout into the void. And to listen for the echo.
Think of the ambitions that fell. The novel you swore you'd write. The business you launched with a friend and then watched crumble. The language you started learning and then abandoned. These are fallen soldiers of the self. They lie in the graveyard of "good intentions."
Many of us stay stuck among the fallen because we feel we failed them. But guilt is a poison. The fallen do not want your guilt. They want your life.
But there is another kind of fallen that we rarely memorialize: the versions of ourselves that didn't make it.
: Worldwide, the "cult of the fallen" emerged strongly after World War I, where the scale of loss (nearly 9.5 million combatants) led to the creation of individual graves and massive necropoli to ensure that no name was forgotten.
But nature doesn't waste a tragedy.
And then, take a breath. Feel the ground beneath your feet. Notice that you are still here, still breathing, still capable of choosing.
To consider “all the fallen” is to stand at the edge of a vast, silent canyon and shout into the void. And to listen for the echo.
