long ago in a distant land forgotten by all the memories of time there
lived a hero a man not necessarily a great man but
a good man the youngest of three brothers star athlete well rounded
well learned and well in every other arena you could justify the need to be well in he had a wife and three children a
boy and two girls
and a
steady job at the home office of a well respected bank making a
respectable amount of money enough to keep his wife and
three children a
boy and two girls
happy in relative comfort
those children a
boy and two girls
and that wife loved him very
much proud of him for taking the great bulk of the world and setting
it so delicately and effortlessly on his
shoulders taking charge of all of it and bearing
the task with complete calm and ease
yet
none of them aware that somewhere deep under
the surface was another face a different face the opposite
face and it was the real face but not the one
he let them see never letting them see this other this opposite this real one and that so easily lifted and held bulk of the world not so easily lifted
and held but weighing down so heavy bending bones and threatening to crush and smother but keeping the armor on the
armor of that first face the one
he let them see to them the real face that armor so
important the armor of pride and pride a deadly thing a crippling
thing so quickly swept to the side but deep down at the heart of us all the
core of us all pride the real real
yet
we think of this hero and like all heroes he isn’t
perfect isn’t flawless because to be flawless and perfect
isn’t to be a hero at all because those who are perfect and flawless need not have fear of failure fear of defeat and without fear of failure fear
of defeat there is no risk and a hero is no hero and unless
that hero have something to risk something to lose whether
all or a portion still needing to have
something on the line because the courage to
put that something on the line in order to fight
for what you believe in at any cost
the cost of loss is what makes a hero a hero but pride
the real real that is pride does not make a hero a hero instead
making the hero something else and not brave and not
willing to put it all or part of it on the line for the greater good but
for the heros own good and negating the
status of hero
yet
those children a
boy and two girls
saw a hero wherever he went or was a hero in their
eyes seeing only the armor the armor of pride
and not the face the real face beneath the real real of pride
not seeing him break off pieces of the
world to lighten the load not seeing the growing
debt or the lies or the hidden truths hidden
behind the armor beneath the
armor only seeing the armor and him the
hero shining the plates of metal to a brilliant sheen
brighter than the sun brighter than the
brightest bright of the sun to dazzle their eyes and the eyes
of his wife to distract them away from what was
going on behind and beneath realizing
slowlybutsurely that those chunks of the world removed
to lighten the weight of the world werent so easily removed were
infact necessary to the very makeup of the
world and now keeping that armor shiny keeping it brilliant to distract
the wife and the children a
boy and two girls
from the
chunks removed desperately trying desperate
now to find a way some way any way to replace those chunks
removed to make the world whole again
no matter how hard to bare because the world if
anything needs to be whole
yet
unable to find a way to replace the pieces removed and by trying to replace
the pieces removed knocking loose more pieces removing
more and the world getting
lighter and lighter but somehow heavier and heavier those pieces removed
breeding serpents of debt great chimeras medusas
cyclopes hydras of debt the hero now for the first
time afraid afraid because realizing that somewhere in that
hiddenbeneathworld of armor where pride his
pride was the only thing on the
line there was more on the line his wife and his
children a
boy and two girls
and a house more than a house a home
were on the line and the chunks continuing to
fall eaten and
devoured
and destroyed by the serpents great
chimeras medusas cyclopes hydras but not telling
hiding it all behind beneath the
armor or pride those great worlddevouring beasts feeding not just on the world but fueled and fed by pride that pride his pride
yet
it continued continued to continue until the world
was small small enough to fit in
a pocket and the hero not holding up the world any more but holding
up the pride world devouring beasts heavier
than the world ever had been
and crushing him bones not bending bones
not breaking but bones shattering becoming instant
powder and the armor beginning to crack under the
weight unable to hold up that great and
monumental weight and the wife could see for the first time
could see could see through the cracks in
that armor and see those great beasts and knowing
what the hero really was who
that great hero really was and
what he had risked and what he was losing and
fighting not against the hero but fighting with the hero trying to help him
beat back those great beasts to fight them
and make them regurgitate the bits of the world they had
devoured
fighting them for those pieces so to help fight to replace those
pieces removed and make the world
whole again and help him carry
and hold the world but the hero too proud too
proud even with the armor of pride
cracked and broken and pushing the wife aside pushing
her aside because that pride was fuel for more
than just great beasts it was fuel for fighting fighting
not to save the world of his wife and children a
boy and two girls
but fighting to save that pride
yet
the wife did not abandon did not leave did not leave and take their children a
boy and two girls
to another world still whole
with pieces not removed
with no great beast devouring all the wife
remained believing the armor despite the cracks in the
armor believing the hero was still a hero that
this newfound face this real face hidden beneath wasnt the
real face the real face still the
face she had always known the one she had loved and lived
for the face her children a
boy and two girl
loved and lived for and believing the armor while
the last of the world fell away the heros sword blunted blunted
by too many years unused and unable to slay
even the weakest of the beasts and the beasts growing becoming more hungry
beginning to adhere to the hero turning
him whicked turning him to anger and jealously
and the foulness of tongue and the slow
destruction of the world outside the world of his wife the world
of his children a
boy and two girls
yet
when the wife told him told the hero that with the world the
real world her world and the
world of her children a
boy and two girls
collapsing
around them that she was going to take
them away take them to a world safe and away from
the tortured failed hero run and polluted
by the great beasts that sword once dulled began to sharpen the
hero knowing that that world of old the world of his
wife and children a
boy and two girls
was worth fighting for maybe worth
fighting for more than the pride
hed been fighting for and using that sword once dull beginning
to sharpen and fought the great beasts
beginning to defeat them and push
them at bay small pieces of the world
devoured
the pieces removed and
devoured
regurgitating and the hero and wife taking
those pieces and replacing
them replacing the pieces removed to make the world whole
again and the brothers of that hero the hero
youngest of three brothers learning of the battle being fought brought swords
of their own brought swords to help fight
back the great beasts and now the children a
boy and two girls
seeing through great cracks in that
armor cracks made great by the horror
of battle and the teeth and fangs of the oncepolluted hero
began to see that hidden face that real face of
pride the real real
yet
the hero was ashamed and pride took hold
pride ashamed because the brothers
coming to fight because of the wife coming to fight because of the children a
boy and two girls
wanting to come and help the fight it wasnt their fight it was
his fight his responsibility he who had
removed the first pieces of the
world had removed them
and unable to replace them and brought on the hunger of the great
beasts the serpents chimeras medusas cyclopes hydras the
great beasts who had
devoured
the world had
devoured
and become the world and latched leeched
onto the hero and turned the hero
to hate all his fight his responsibility his pride though
armor cracked stills strong and pushing
them away all of them away
pushing the brothers away with their swords so sharp so
able and pushing the wife away with
her sword so sharp so able and pushing the children a
boy and two girls
away with their swords not sharp
not able but willing and taking up the fight no longer because
of their world the world of his wife and children a
boy and two girls
but again because of the world of pride the real real
yet
the aide was still there the aide of the brothers and the wife
and the children
a boy and two girls
but the hero angry now angry because the
swords of that aide there for his aide were not to him
aide at all but more great beasts other great beasts there to
devour
his pride to
cripple him to make him no longer a hero but less than a hero and the pride turning turning everything and the great beasts
the serpents chimeras medusas hydras still
battling on one side and now the aide turned enemy of pride
fighting on the other and the hero once a
hero but no longer a hero fighting them both fighting
them not to save the world but to save that pride his pride the
pride the real real
yet
the strength that had once been there been
there with the hero for the hero of the hero was no longer there had been depleted devoured
not by any great beasts but by the battle the constant
battle the foreverbattle
that had raged on for so many years
beneath the surface below the surface under the
surface and now on and above
the surface the greatbattle had
devoured
it all and the sword once dulled now beginning to
sharpen beginning to dull once more and
unable to slay unable to fight the hero weak and
unable to even wield that sword and the
aide come to his side retreating retreating because
not wanting to battle with the hero but wanting to battle next
to the hero retreating because
they did not want to die with the hero and
the hero no longer a hero now alone alone in that
world no longer the world of his wife and children a
boy and two girls
but alone in that world of the great beasts and the
great beasts no longer serpents chimeras medusas cyclopes hydras
but the devil itself the devil of self pity of misery
and
thus a great hero fell