They took down Rome…
I’ve been to Rome a few times now, spending a month there a handful of years ago. Every time I go I visit the Colosseum and I’m told the same story.
The impressive building is riddled with holes from Barbarian Tribes removing the metals contained within the stone to make weapons. (read: we have a crisis of purpose)
You see the building, the audacity of it, the power of it, and you think, Who could take down the people that built this?
If Rome can fall, so can you, so can I, so can we.
The simple truth is that Rome was destroyed, defeated, and conquered by a harder, tougher people. (read: 15 signs you’re an alpha male)
Rome ruled the world for a thousand years because, for a long time, not only were they smarter, but tougher. They were killers, rulers, dominated other cultures that simply didn’t have their shh together.
Then, however, Rome changed.
They become soft, tolerant, morally loose. They stood for nothing. They stood for excess, slothfulness, and desire, not the strength and honor that was their culture.
History not only repeats itself on a grand scale, but we can learn from such a long, slow rise and fall and apply it to our own lives.
We get soft, we will be conquered.
To be very blunt, another fella who’s driven, who’s getting after it can come take your lady…
Another fella who’s getting after it and not being a victim can come and take your job…
More likely…
We get soft, we’re not conquered by another, but by a sad state, one of victimhood, of failure, or of mediocrity.
Just like with Rome, the fall can happen slowly, it can start with a single habit and end in utter failure.
What should Rome have done? It’s the same thing we must do.
Get hard. Get tough. Be Barbaric.
In our lives, our purpose, as men, is to work, to provide and to protect.
We take on more, not less. We work longer hours, not fewer. We set higher goals, we do not relent.
Life is not easy. Defending the city gates has never been easy.
It doesn’t stop, either. We win one battle and it’s immediately onto the next.
Rather than comparing out lot to another, our path to that of another, rather than wishing and whining that we are not where we want to be, that we are not who we want to be, we have to accept that it’s only through struggle, through brutal effort and relentless work that we get what we want.
And it takes a long time.
There are examples to the contrary. Examples of quick success, but they’re few. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was this life you need to live to feel like you were here for a reason.
Don’t ever get soft.
Society, is. It’s weak. It’s too tolerant, too accepting, to accommodating and rather than helping it will hurt the lot of us.
Humans are a resilient species. We’ve evolved over thousands of years by facing hardship, harsh climates, real life monsters and disease and famine.
That blood that withstood battle in the past, that conquered and killed, that dominated and destroyed, runs through your veins.
Being weak and fat are unnatural human conditions.
Being a victim is no way for a man to live.
Rise and do the work of a man. Rise and work without complaint. Rise and dominate the few moments you have while you’re here.
Let others rest, soften, weaken. Let them think they’re enjoying life, that they’re living in the moment, and know that moments are not merely to be enjoyed, but to be won.
Never give in. Be a Barbarian.
Be Legendary,
Chad Howse
