Your Highness

Lately, I waged war against allies, friends and family of mine, but not the way I used to. Some dirty war, unfair lashing out, uncontrollable bouts of anger. 

The culprit? Nicotine withdrawal, toppled with a mind ailed by subtle to moderate depression. Get rid of anger, do not get tangled up in emotional debates, needless confrontations, meditate and then meditate some more, listen to ambient music, landscape sounds full of rivers and chirping birds, and appease the untamed beast that dwells underneath the most insignificant offense, the ego. Careful not to offend Your Highness, or else heads will roll. 

Except I make no direct verbal attack, no personal confrontation, just retreat and leave the land up for grabs, ripe for the picking. That's right: in order to be delivered and released from the mental asylum of angst, something must give, someone must surrender, leave your arms and your slippers at the entrance of this house. Enter without ego, for you will not make it out alive if you take too much of anything. Pick your own memories, build them overtime, replenish the malnourished spiritual gaps; raindrops will hit the windowpane, sometimes shit. The monster lurks underneath the most insignificant blow, ready to strike. The monster doesn't know what it is: it will show no compassion, it will tear apart the most intimate fabric of our bond, it'll bleed, dry up and heal. 

We'll always have another chance to show our compassion, to be of service, to take up the real fight and make the most honorable out of whatever chance affords us, cleansed and washed anew in the misty sunlight. 

Earlier peaceful tribes were taken over by more aggressive tribes, our ancestors had to either killed or be killed, if we are here, it is a testament that some of those killer genes we inherit. That's not all that is left of our genetic legacy, of course. But we do have a violent past and not the most peaceful now either, but we do live in perhaps the most peaceful of times in our history, despite the proliferation of nuclear weapons, somehow we've managed to live with technology that would annihilate us for three quarters of a century, since the end of the second World War. It is a good sign and there's no shame in feeling a bit optimistic. A lot of work has yet to be done, we can start by dealing with others in a less reactive manner, more peacefully, the world reflects whatever you mirror yourself in and turns out into whatever transformation you're undertaking inside: these are like heads and tails of a singular coin. 

No need to go up in arms, no sense in raising vast armies to defend your land. If you sat idly, they'd conquer you; you had to either go on the offense or be conquered. If you want peace, said the old adage, prepare for war. That was then; the worst has been left behind. There's reasonable argument for hope but more vitally so we need the good will and hard work of those unwilling to compromise souls, those who'll take the fight to uncertainty and build horizons where there were only barriers before. If our efforts aren't met with the same passion, is that maybe we haven't been passionate enough.