Live by the sword, die by the sword

This is one of the most truthful adages I’ve seen and felt. For every offense, the universe returns an equal wound; this phenomenon is known by some as: karma.

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”

– Genesis 9:6

How many great conquerors and commander-generals do you know of in the past that lived past sixty? Alexander the Great – thirty-three, Julius Caesar – fifty-six, Attila the Hun – forty-seven, Napoleon Bonaparte – fifty-two, Genghis Kan, just barely – sixty-five.

Thirty-three, that really is something to think about.

It’s not necessarily a criticism either, just expounding its veracity.

Physiologically, the human body is immensely taxed from being in the universally known ‘fight-or-flight mode’. Your cortisol skyrockets and your nervous system inevitably burns out from being on alert all the time.

You risk more to gain more, but you better hope your win-to-loss ratio is near perfect; indeed in some cases anything less than perfect means death. Those who enjoyed speed-running Pokemon or perfect-scoring games like Osu! or arcade shooters when they were younger may understand what I’m talking about.

“I want to make this clear. I never glorify my former life. And the reason I don’t do that [is] because I do believe it’s an evil life and I want to be clear on this: I’m not calling the guys evil. I was one of them, I just happen to be very blessed. But I don’t know any family of any member of that life that hasn’t been totally devastated, including my own.”

– Michael Franzese

It is written:

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

– Matthew 23:12