To Build a Fellowship

to what end?

In this world, you find yourself alone and utterly isolated from true friends. You look out at the landscape and may wonder, “to what end?” To succumb to the world is to give up on living. But where do you go? What and who do you look for? To live out this yearning, you have a great journey and adventure beyond the shire or the salt mines. To vanquish the evil and sloth from the world laid before you. For you have no ring in your father’s trunk. No broken sword that must be reforged. No horn that must be blown. Or do you? I say you just might. Though there are no orcs or goblins for you to slay (at least not quite so easily).

In this thirst for adventure and brotherhood, you must deal within the realities of this world. No, you will not wait in your apartment or small homestead for the end, clinging to your rifles and dreams of freedom from the chains of life, hoping that great evil finds you. Instead, you must suffer. You must set out on a perilous journey. One of great trials that will test your sanity, mental fortitude, and commitment to victory. How far are you willing to go into the belly of the beast, within the molten walls of Orodruin, and will you survive? Within our institution resides this journey, but I do not tell you to set out alone unless you must. You can and must rally friends around you in this cause. Other insane men who are alive. Men who also dream. For this is the only way you will succeed and live. Secret oaths sworn in private Halo Big Team Battle lobbies. Blood wings pinned at graduations by friends. Progress checks to keep you honest. Bourbon and cigars enjoyed around a campfire.

To build this fellowship, you must be taken by a madness only created by the desire to explore and experience. Driven mad by the hope that men who still have souls walk among the roving masses. You must find them and bring them together. This fellowship of men is the greatest tool against the overarching shadow that now looms and encompasses us. When they are gathered and set upon a single goal, you can set out for the many obstacles that await you in the dark. For one man cannot win the war, though he may turn the tide of the battle. Loyalty is all that matters. Commitment to your friends and fellowship. Without this, you will die old and alone in a cubicle prison, waiting for the weekend to mow the lawn and dusting your figurines, wondering where the dreams of youth and desire for true friendship went. With this fellowship, you may just find yourself within the gilded halls of the Oval Office one day.

This is the power of friendship. It is the power of life and how men were meant to truly live. They seek to take this from you in all ways, from the paths you are told to take to the milestones you are supposed to meet. These paths and milestones will have you sitting in traffic as all your hair turns gray, reading the news, saying to yourself, “those darn elites,” waiting for the next ball game or moment of silence. Build this brotherhood. Set out to the same places. Live, train, and learn together. Seek higher education and employment within the institutions. Invest and plan together. Take over. It will give you fulfillment and hope beyond your current understanding. Something something The Iliad is about friendship. Something something Plato. Go and set out. Search and find these men, because I know they may also be looking for you. Godspeed, frens. -Bane