Facing Fate
...And Fate laughed in my face, for I had dared make plans. "If you cannot control yourself," she scoffed, "how do you expect to control your destiny? Success is for those who have the strength to handle it, for those powerful enough to pursue their goals.
"I am but an instrument of justice. I leave the strong be, so they can reach their destinations without problems. And I make sure the weak never achieve what they want, because they do not deserve it.
"You," she said, and her voice was stone cold, "will be what you will call 'a failure'. You can complain all you want about it, you can blame me and curse me; I shall not listen, and I shall not care. I existed before you and I shall exist after you.
"You will have to remember, however, that failure is in the eye of the beholder. I do not seek to destroy you; you asked to fail the moment you denied your power. I shall have you fail in your own terms, lead you down the path of mediocrity, which you so despised. And then you will see that mediocrity is not so bad for people who give up on their expectations. You will learn to be satisfied with it, and what you once called a goal will be reduced to a distant what-if.
"Now leave this place and get out of my sight. You have heard what you wanted to hear, and I shall not speak another word until you leave."
I lowered my hand and started to climb down the mountain. It was tragic, how all the effort I made to get here meant nothing to her, and she was still willing to call me a weakling and do nothing to help me.
But now I realized, she has not the power to help people succeed. Those who succeed do it on their own, no fatal interventions required.
This travel may have left me with scratches on the skin and a deep disappointment in the heart, but at least I have learned something.
"I am but an instrument of justice. I leave the strong be, so they can reach their destinations without problems. And I make sure the weak never achieve what they want, because they do not deserve it.
"You," she said, and her voice was stone cold, "will be what you will call 'a failure'. You can complain all you want about it, you can blame me and curse me; I shall not listen, and I shall not care. I existed before you and I shall exist after you.
"You will have to remember, however, that failure is in the eye of the beholder. I do not seek to destroy you; you asked to fail the moment you denied your power. I shall have you fail in your own terms, lead you down the path of mediocrity, which you so despised. And then you will see that mediocrity is not so bad for people who give up on their expectations. You will learn to be satisfied with it, and what you once called a goal will be reduced to a distant what-if.
"Now leave this place and get out of my sight. You have heard what you wanted to hear, and I shall not speak another word until you leave."
I lowered my hand and started to climb down the mountain. It was tragic, how all the effort I made to get here meant nothing to her, and she was still willing to call me a weakling and do nothing to help me.
But now I realized, she has not the power to help people succeed. Those who succeed do it on their own, no fatal interventions required.
This travel may have left me with scratches on the skin and a deep disappointment in the heart, but at least I have learned something.