There is something to be said about Humanity in that one of our greatest characteristics is in the practice of warfare. For generations we have been fighting each other on every battlefield known to us. Our largest technological innovations in recent times have been spurred on by war, and our greatest atrocities are created in the same manner.

However, it is not the cruelty against others that defines war in all of mankind.

It does not take a rifle, in the streets of modern day.

It does not take a sword, under the banner of a liege lord.

It does not take words in the public forum, or in the chambers of government.

It does not take a dagger in the back from the person who you placed faith in.

It does not take the shattering of your heart by the person that you never thought would hold it in their hand.

The greatest battle for all of us, is that of one’s self.

Every human is forever locked in a struggle against their own thoughts and impressions. Painted by the perspective of the outside world that shaped them as the canvas — the people that influenced them, the culture that defined them, brush strokes of color.

It is within this struggle that we find our great victories, and most tragic of defeats. Yet these are just battles, in the lifelong struggle that we must endure. In a way, it is this struggle that validates the human condition. The fight to define one’s self, and to persevere in a world that seeks to snuff out our very essence.

Sometimes your own mind is against you. Sometimes your heart. Sometimes you stand with no allies, and only betrayal.

Yet in the end, we must endure. We must overcome, and we regroup to fight the next battle. For the war only ends when the ancestors call you home.