The Day Richard The Lionheart Broke His Own Heart

Описание: "O Lord God, I pray thee that I may never see thy Holy City, if so be that I may not rescue it from the hands of thine enemies." - Richard the Lionheart ( The Crusader )

They call me the Lionheart. They sing songs of my victories in the mead halls of England. They say I am the hammer of Christendom. But I stand here, on the hills of Beit Nuba, only twelve miles from the Holy City... and I am turning my back.

I can see the spires in the distance. I can smell the incense on the wind. My men are weeping. They rend their clothes. They beg me to give the order to charge. They want glory. They want to rush into the gates and die martyrs.

But a King does not dream. A King counts the cost.

If we take the city today, we lose it tomorrow. We have no supply lines. The wells are poisoned. The desert waits to swallow us whole. It is easy to charge into death; it is the coward's way out of duty. It is hard—it is agony—to sheath your sword when victory is within sight, because you know it is a hollow victory.

I shielded my eyes with my cloak. I would not look at the city I could not save. I prayed that God would blind me rather than let me see what I could not protect.

You seek glory in your life? You seek the high of the win, the praise of the crowd? You are chasing dust. True courage is not blindly charging forward. True courage is the discipline to do what is right, even when it tastes like ash in your mouth. Even when it looks like failure to the world.

You live in an age of vanity. You curate your victories and hide your scars. You refuse to retreat, so you burn out. You destroy your families, your health, your sanity, all for the sake of an image. You would rather capture the city and die in the ruins than have the wisdom to walk away and live to fight again.

Do not be a fool who mistakes stubbornness for strength. I am a King because I know when to bleed and when to bind the wound. Sacrifice your pride. Kill your ego before it kills you. Turn your horse around. The long march home is where the real war is fought. Endure it.