Once an Eagle

by Anton Myrer

Inflexibility—it was the worst human failing: you could learn to check impetuosity, you could overcome fear through confidence and laziness through discipline, but rigidity of mind allowed for no antidote. It carried the seeds of its own destruction.

Don’t let the weight of things numb you. Read, think, disagree with everything, if you like—but force your mind outward.

That was how life was, perhaps: you fought your bravest battles unapplauded and alone.

The essence of leadership was an unerring ability to winnow the essential from the trivial or extraneous.

“The good Lord made some men big and He made some men small. And then He gave us gunpowder as the big equalizer. Now don’t any of you rookies forget that, hear?”

“That’s the whole challenge of life—to act with honor and hope and generosity, no matter what you’ve drawn. You can’t help when or what you were born, you may not be able to help how you die; but you can—and you should—try to pass the days between as a good man …”