Dying Doesn't Show Devotion

“It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.” -Julius Caesar

A growing trend on the internet is people, specifically young men, sharing nostalgic thoughts about the Middle Ages. Pictures of knights charging into battle captioned with things like ‘simpler times’ or even better ‘I was born in the wrong time’. Your gut impulse may be to turn these anonymous posters into neck-bearded caricatures and to question their sincerity.

That would be misguided.

Physical appearances aside, I actually think they’re being genuine. There’s nothing new under the sun, Caesar saw the same thing. Large acts of machismo and grandeur are easy. Small, daily sacrifices are difficult. Ask someone if they would run into a burning building to save a child, the answer will be an emphatic yes. Now ask them to teach the same child algebra, the answer will be an equally emphatic no. Resist the temptation to pick apart the metaphor and ask yourself why?

The highest devotion is not dying for something. It’s a monotonous, daily commitment to continue to show up even if the building doesn’t catch on fire.