“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
Epictetus
The Storm’s Insight
There is a scene in We Were Soldiers.
The defenses are collapsing.
The casualties are mounting.
The battalion is being overrun.
In the midst of the chaos—bullets flying, radios screaming, men shouting warnings from all direction—the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, stands up.
He doesn’t panic.
He doesn’t posture.
He looks. He assesses.
He feels the truth.
Then he commands two words.
“Broken Arrow.”
Two words that call in every available aircraft.
Two words that change the course of the battle.
Two words that carry an unbearable cost—to foe and friendly alike.
This is what the call does.
It brings you to a threshold—not of action, but of truth.
A collapse of self-deception.
A moment where you know something you cannot unknow.
You recognize the reality of your situation.
You see what has been avoided.
You admit what must change—before you know how.
This is decision before action.
An inner crossing that cannot be reversed.
Life will keep presenting these thresholds—again and again, in different forms—until you finally recognize them.
Until you stop pretending you don’t see what you see.
It is rarely about survival.
It is about the life you are no longer willing to abandon.
The Forge’s Reflection
The first threshold is crossed the moment self-deception ends.
The Sovereign’s Task
Where, exactly, did you stop being able to lie to yourself?
How did you know?
What did it feel like?
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