Chapter 123: Sacrifice

As my sufferings mounted I soon realized

that there were two ways in which I

could respond to my situation -- either

to react with bitterness or seek to

transform the suffering into a creative force.

I decided to follow the latter course.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Love is not love which alters it when

alteration finds, or bends with the remover

to remove: O no! It is an ever fixed mark

that looks on tempests and is never shaken;

it is the star to every wandering bark

whose worth's unknown, although his height

be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy

lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's

compass come: Love alters not with his brief

hours and weeks, but bears it out,

even to the edge of doom.

William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Sonnets

The best use of life is love.

The best espression of love is time.

The best time to love is now.

Rick Warren

God knows we're all drawn toward what's

beautiful and broken; I have been, but some

people cannot be fixed. Or if they can be, it's

only by love and sacrifice so great

it destroys the giver.

Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

Every man gives his life for what he believes.

Every women gives her life for what

she believes. Sometimes people believe in little

or nothing, so they give their lives to

little or nothing. One life is all we have, and

we live it as we believe in living it [...]

and then it's gone.

But to surrender who you are and to live

without belief is more terrible than dying --

even more terrible than dying young.

St Joan of Arc

Some people think they can find satisfaction

in good food, fine clothes, lively music, and

sexual pleasure. However, when they have all

of these things, they are not satisfied. They

realize happiness is not simply having their

material needs met. Thus, society has set up

a system of rewards that go beyond material

goods. These includes titles, social recognition,

status, and political power, all wrapped up

in a package called self-fulfillment. Attracted by

these prizes and goaded on by social pressure,

people spend their short lives tiring body and

mind to chase after these goals. Perhaps

this gives them the feeling that they have

achieved something in their lives, but in reality

they have sacrificed a lot in life. They can no

longer see, hear, act, feel, or think from their

hearts. Everything they do is dictated by

whether it can get them social gains. In the end,

they've spend their lives following other

people's demands and never lived a life of

their own. How different is this from the life

of a slave or a prisoner?

Liezi, Lhie-tzu: A Taoist Guide to

Practical Living

When you go in search of honey,

you must expect to be stung by bees.

Joseph Joubert

It wasn't necessary to win for the story

to be great, it was only necessary to

sacrifice everything.

Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand

Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

To all those who care,

You can't forever.

Time steals the years,

And your reflection in the mirror.

But I can still see the story in your eyes,

And your timeless passion that's never died.

Your heart became strong,

The present became the past,

And your memories like a song.

And though the moment at hand

is all that we have,

You've taught me to live it like it is our last.

Since two words don't say 'thank you'

the way they are meant to,

I'll try all my life to be something like you.

Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading 2

When he sacrifices himself 

man for a moment is greater than God,

for how can God, infinite and omnipotent,

sacrifice himself?

W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge

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This Chapter is sponsored by Adidas.