Message #145537

[Ehndras]

My following message, when a certain noble, a candidate for rulership, asked what can be done to put salve upon the ills of the spirit of Riombara...

Indeed - there may be a few rotten fruit in the batch, but the realm must be made to listen and respect - in one manner or another. Any and every tactic must be employed to bring ORDER to this chaos.

I cannot possibly specify the particular path you each must walk - I am but one woman, and flawed in her own regard.

That is something each of you must look for within thyselves.

Start by asking, "What have I done wrong recently that I could have executed better? How can I prevent the same or similar mistake from occurring again?"

Question your own reasoning. Your own motives. Your own passions. Your own perspective.

Break yourself down to your base essence and detach from it, attempt to see it through the eyes of an outsider, and you will see the ill in what has been done.

Not a single one of us are perfect, not by a longshot, but there is always room for improvement...

So long as one is willing to accept their imperfection, to accept "defeat." and view it not as a loss but a veritable conquest of wisdom and experience.

Every loss is a lesson, every enemy a teacher. Yet in the end, we are our greatest enemies. It is we who get in the way of our own progress.

It is so easy to continue along the beaten path, echoing the cycles we know to be true, that we know work - slightly, in their own broken way, but they're comfortable. Useful. Easy.

To break free from the comfort of old behavioral patterns is the most difficult conquest of self, but it is one that shall reward you for the rest of your life.

I think we should challenge our realm's citizens to each speak out: not of others, but themselves.

Tell us where you feel you have failed. Upon which paths you have faltered. Where it all went wrong.

It is a liberating experience, though one we do begrudgingly. The simple, humble action of collectively revealing our flaws, which are quite obviously already apparent to everyone else but ourselves, is a very important step to the healing of a broken home. A broken family. A broken marriage. A broken workplace. A broken kingdom. A broken people.

If we can stop hating others for being imperfect for a single moment, we'll realize we in fact hate ourselves for our own mistakes. Anger is an emotional relic, born of suffering, which manifests when one feels anxious or afraid - helpless to modify the circumstances that curb one's ability to survive and succeed, whether material or merely perceived.

Forgiveness is what Riombara requires to heal. Forgiveness is what she asks of us.