Who dare taketh?
The word crazy or insane is placed upon a person who does the unthinkable. Many do not prepare for such acts of viciousness and hostility until all eyes become witness. And yet, were we just not prepared to see the very unthinkable? Were we instead fixated on judging the actions of one in power who could devise of the unthinkable? And when the majority succeed in placing one’s back against the wall, will we think an actual surrender?
No one wants to lose. No one wakes up wanting to feel defeated. We were made to be victors, not victims, after all. Surrendering is an arrived circumstance, having spent oneself of all other options. This, at least, goes to the tenacious of minds, hearts, and spirits. A champion prepares and thus, expects to win. Anything less is undesirable for those who know of themselves to be seen as strong and powerful. Defeat is the greatest subconscious fear for a man who thrives on the respect of victory.
I recall the Samson story. Summarizing, he was a man whose mother, informed by an angel, was told from even before birth of Samson, that he was to be the one to begin to deliver their people from opposition. As he grew, his strength was beyond natural measure.
Whether it be love, power, or money, it becomes evident through time that men insatiably fall to each or sometimes, all of these yearnings. Already having unquestionable physical power and ordained as judge over his people, it was Samson’s amorous desire that eventually led to his captivity whence he was essentially blinded, enslaved, and imprisoned upon his power being cut off from him.
Powerless with no sight, in the hands of his people’s opposition, Samson was publicly displayed for all to see as the very enemy who had not only taken the lives of many of them, but who had also destroyed their country.
Samson, praying for his strength to be renewed just once more, takes down the temple consisting of men and women, adding three thousand more to the lives he had already taken, this time, with his own.
Samson, having gained back his powerful strength once more made the ultimate decision to sacrifice his own life to take down those who held him captive, those who for years had been strong opposition of his people. This, at least, is how movies and literature have portrayed his deed.
Before his death, Samson took the lives of thirty men after having lost a bet from his own self-made riddle. He tied three hundred foxes, tail-to-tail, set them on fire before releasing them unto fields, burning down vast array of vegetation. He then took the lives of a thousand more men. This had been Samson.
Samson was the judge of his people for twenty years. Whether it was due to fear, honor, or respect, his people allowed him to take on such role. His opposition, however, regardless of his role, contrived of how to not just capture him, but strip him of his strength. By taking out his eyes and forcing him to work in the prison house, greater acts to humiliate and dehumanize him may have been to the opposition’s satisfaction.
What more did Samson have left after that? What dignity was he left with that anyone gave him? Who were there to fight for him when he was captured? How was it that while chosen as one to judge for his people, when in turn he was being judged, no history showed of anyone standing by his side to his final days?
One must ask, was he truly honored as a judge or feared and thus, tolerated? Did he stand to be an honorable man prior to his death? Only upon his death was it spoken of where he was taken out to be buried in the burying place of his father. Were his people reluctant to see him go? Or, were they, instead, relieved?
Samson did take down three thousand with him at the time of his own death. To denote historical literature, however, his prayer to regain the strength to take down the temple was to avenge those who took his eyes. No mention was there that Samson was avenging his people. At that point, had he given up on his people? Or, had he come to the realization that maybe for some time, his people had already given up on him?
We think to corner a man, to place a man’s back against the wall, to strip him of his power, suggest the very thought that being left defenseless is the actuality of also the very man’s thoughts. However, men can only project so much of what is to be in the mind of another.
Who is willing or has planned to face the possibilities of what a man would do whose back is being pushed to a wall?
