I've been thinking on mortality and it has caused me to face some hard personal questions. Am I proud of what I've done? Do I like the direction my life is heading? At the end of my life, when I look back on everything, will the regret outweigh the pride? The answer is an emphatic no. I have had far too few adventures with far too few of my friends. My existence thus far has been extraordinarily pedestrian. The very fact that I've been thinking of mortality is only further proof that I'm not living to my potential.

In all honesty, I will probably leave college and take up a normal job. The odds of fulfilling my dream are slim. I will probably sit at work, cursing my lot, and submit to a life of mediocrity. Hoping for a different result won't do anything; I need to act. The lack of action would be tantamount to death. Life must continue. Life is valuable and enjoyable. Life is everything. Death is nothing. If man wishes to live, he lives most intensely sometimes when he is in the direct presence of death. If a man has not yet been tested, people don’t know whether he will withstand the pressures, whether he will prove himself to be a true man.

I reject abstract qualities—courage, bravery, etc.  These are all just words. For example, courage may involve a single act of courage. This does not mean that a man is by nature courageous. A man who has been courageous in war might not be courageous in some civil affair or in some other human endeavor. What I'm is searching for are absolute values, which will be the same and constant at every moment of every day of every month of every year.. The only value that will serve man is an innate faculty of self-discipline. Once a man has performed some act of bravery, he should not discuss it. Talking is emotionalism; it is the action that is important.  If you talk about the act too much you lose the importance of the act itself.  The same is true of talking about love.

Most of us live a life a quiet desperation as our so called modern and advanced society has neglected to provide true men with means to fully express themselves. Therefore, I challenge all good men to take up adventure, discovery and invention, wherever they can find it. Put a stamp on this world and be your own Master and Commander. There is still an Empire; it lies within.