Somebody has deferred their desires for you. Your name was a mantra for them when their flesh and blood pushed through indignities to support you. Your existence took precedence over their fancies. Their efforts exploded with new meaning. The sacrifices were made without hesitation.
They were entranced by the patterns of your mind and the output of your personality. They took delight in the image of your smiling face. They would close their eyes and savor the idea of you before drifting to sleep. Upon waking, you were their first thought.
Somebody has enlivened their spirit with the gratitude they feel for you, and resolved to wager their life to save yours if it ever became necessary. They have anticipated your arrival, mourned your leaving, and cherished your time together. They have taken inventory of their life and have counted you amongst the finest treasures of their reality.
They may have harbored grievances about your unfortunate habits, your obnoxious impulses, or your misguided obsessions. But these hangups held no bearing on the salient loyalty they regarded you with.
Seasons of flux altered your form with a myriad of iterations, but some constant thread was recognized and followed along where it led. They were a witness to your personal development. A collector of your life's insular history.
You've created a criterion for love and held them to strict standards. These expectations are a sign of respect, for they place high esteem on their ability to sustain integrity. But without mercy, this can be used as a pretense for asserting the ego’s demands.
Mercy is now seen as a weapon of tyranny, just as forgiveness has been branded as a cudgel for corrupt immunity. We used to acknowledge these ideals as wisdom, and we'd feel shame when we failed to uphold them.
The self-righteous enforce a puritanical lineage with their moral neuroses. Relationships are purged at the cost of what they serve.
These are the "activists" who are incapable of empathy or finding common ground. They say things like, "These people aren't worth arguing with," or, "It's not my job to educate you," or, "We'll just have to wait for these people to die off." Day by day, they narrow their compatibility with humanity, and yet they believe they can command armies.
What are they fighting for?