Of Pens and Swords

As you get older, you’ll lose more and more people close to you. It’s life, and it can be made into something good.
I was fortunate, or unfortunate, to learn this very early. The one thing that makes it easy for me is this:
With everybody I lost, I don’t think of how I will miss them, but how they influenced me. That influence is what keeps them alive in yourself, to an extent. Even bad influences can be made positive, if applied correctly.
I live with the sole intention of hopefully being seen as a positive influence in someones life when I die. I don’t want there to be a vacuum of pain left in my wake, but a feeling of accomplishment. Even a small accomplishment is better than none.

Don’t grieve for the dead too long, because that’s never the point. The longer you grieve, the longer you don’t look past it, look at the positive left.
Don’t feel that you’re doing a disservice to the memories of those fallen by going forward either. If their wishes were for you to never get past their death, then it was their disservice to you.
Take the good left from those who have died, and use it to paint a portion of your life colorful. Take the bad left by them as well, and use that as a warning to place in front of the paths that will come your way.

The point of life isn’t to hold someone so close that if they fall you fall, but to hold them close enough that when they fall, you can take the good and move on. One day you will fall as well. You have to remember those who will be left, and what you want to impart upon them now.

Everybody dies on the battlefield of life. Make it a good death, and make it easier for those behind you to pick up the flag and carry on.