Leverage Maxing, World War II Chaos, Solzhenitsyn's Wisdom
Three Point Thursday
Keep pulling your strongest levers.
Never hesitate to double down on your biggest strengths.
It’s everyone’s duty to study World War II.
However much you account for World War II being a time of unique evil and lack of respect for human life, it still manages to surprise you and be even more disturbing than you realized the more you learn about it. Maybe it’s just that I’m 25 now, and the horror hits harder because I think about it deeper? I’ve been watching documentaries recently, and reading The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich by William Shier, and this era continues to be more shocking and sad by the day.
A passage you feel in your bones.
“…What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? If you want, I’ll spell it out for you right now. Do not pursue what is illusionary-property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life-don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn for happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart -and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory.”
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
