Once an Eagle

by Anton Myrer

“Opportunity once forsaken is opportunity lost forever.”

“I will have no man in my boat who is not afraid of a whale.

Experience was valuable only if one imbued it with meaning, drew from it purposeful conclusions.

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

They would not have understood what made him stand there in the heat, calmly, implacably facing down this petty tyrant: it was not money or advancement or fear or vainglory, but a sense of the fitness of the thing—the essential rightness in doing a job conscientiously and well, bringing order out of chaos.

“The higher your rank the calmer you must be. You must instill confidence.”