Joan

by Katherine J. Chen

I will make a war cry that will be remembered forever. And I am writing this to you for the third and final time; I will not write anything further. Joan of Arc (from a letter dictated to the English)

But first you must step out your front door. You must leave behind what you know and possibly what you love. You must be willing to lose every inch of yourself, for the next time you look into a stream or a mirror, which may be weeks, years, or half a lifetime from now, you will not recognize your reflection. You must risk this much in order to gain what the world is ready to offer.

There are many things in the world one can inherit: money, land, power, a crown. But an adventure is not one of them; you must make your own journey.

His Majesty the Dauphin, Charles, seventh of his name. King of France. You don’t know my name. You don’t even know I exist, but I am coming for you.

if I die, I want to say I didn’t die with my back to the enemy, running; because I would like to think it is possible to be strong without also being cruel.

“We are all afraid to fail, yet we must still try.

“Everything begins with a dream.

to hold a book, even to open it, is an experience in itself.

All beautiful things take time.

You must have faith the journey you started on was always the journey you were meant to take. Whatever has happened before, you must trust in the future.

It is never easy—perhaps it is impossible—to forget the past.

Every soldier, young and old, who goes to war shall think of me and carry me in his soul. A hundred years from now, the sound of my name will still make the English shake, though my own people will look upon me tenderly, with pride and with love.