Bring It!

"Danger? Hah! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

--Simba, The Lion King

I have been having a hard time lately. It just seems as if life is dealing out blows at a feverish pace; I'm not even recovered from one impact before another blow rocks my world. But something strange is happening to me in the midst of all this trouble. I think I'm either getting stronger or my brains have gone addled like Rocky Balboa, because the blows are starting to take on a decidedly comical air. Does this ever happen to you? It's like all I can do is laugh. There's a smidge of surrender in it and yet...a big dollop of defiance is waiting in the wings. It's an odd sensation; this feeling. It reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies of all time: The Count of Monte Cristo. At his birthday party, the Count gives young Albert Mondego a birthday toast that resonates with me because of it's likeness to my current feelings. The toast starts at precisely 1 minute in the following clip (or the text is below, if you don't feel like watching):

"Young Albert has made far too much of the assistance I gave him in Rome. When I arrived in the catacombs, I watched as the criminals - who tied Albert to a wall - threatened to cut off his finger and send it to his father as evidence of his abduction. The boy's reply to all this was, 'Do your worst!'

"Life is a storm my young friend, you will bask in the sunlight one moment; be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome, 'Do your worst for I will do mine!' Then the Fates will know you as we know you...as Albert Mondego, the man." 

--Edmond Dantes, as the Count of Monte Cristo

Now, I'm not trying to "man up" or anything. Heaven knows I'm as surprised by my reaction as much as anyone. But I do feel like this shattered-on-the-rocks stage I'm in right now has pushed me around as long as I'm going to let it! These continuous blows have awoken the sleeping giant inside of me and I find myself shouting, 'Bring it, storm!' Or like Albert in Rome, "Do your worst for I will do mine!" I may continue to get knocked around, but I'm gonna give this storm a run for it's money, dangit!

Is that weird, or what?