Freedom from the externalisers...
Click to viewOut of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
This was the favourite poem of Neslon Mandela, through his years of cruel imprisonment. It was written by a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, William Henley, who was challenged by a dreadful bone disease until his death, and was a model of Stevenson's, 'Long John Silver'.
Note: This is all very good advice for those who are at a handicap. Very bad advice for psychopaths and NAZIs.