Burden

Your quintessential guide to becoming a dark lord and beyond.

“The rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.” - Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

I’ve thought a lot about how to format this manifesto. Outline, rigid structures, none of them have fit because life lessons do not adhere to such overbearing demands. Life blindsides and you and the scars left by the experience remind you to be more wary for the next ambush. There is no perfect format to life therefore there is no perfect format to this manifesto. It will meander, it will ramble, and it will definitely rant. You have been warned.

This Manifesto will be taking a blogging style approach. My philosophy is rooted in stories and experiences I have acquired during my brief lifetime. If this thread takes on any structure, it will likely mirror the chaotic myriad my creative education.

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I don’t bullshit people. Bullshitting is like waving a red flag to karma and taunting it to take its best shot. Karma is the all seeing bitch that doesn’t give you an inch of slack on your leash. I will not put one word of bullshit into this manifesto due to the absolute metaphysical certainty that it will come back to bite me in the ass. Hard. Everything written here is something I’ve taken to heart and try to employ in my everyday life. If it has proven useful in a combat zone, it is likely to be useful everywhere else.

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People naturally look to people in authority for advice and guidance. I can assume by reading this manifesto that you want to learn more about becoming a leader and dark lord. By making the decision to become a leader you accept the responsibility that one day people will look up to you and seek out your guidance when they are in need. It is by your strength of character that you will either stand tall in the face of adversity or be crushed under the awesome responsibility that people place in you.

“I never asked for this.” David Roth, my high school Marching Band Director.

When I joined the high school marching band in my freshman year I was a skittish and awkward teenager terrified by the thought of having to meet a new group of people. On my first day Mr. Roth dispelled those fears be welcoming me into the organization with open arms as though I had always been there. He accepted me for who and what I was no questions asked.

Like any kid who grew up without a present father, I sought out father figures. I grew to respect and revere Mr. Roth for his outstanding leadership ability. I wanted to return to the organization the great amount of confidence and pride I had learned as his student by aiming to become the Drum Major. It was an arduous process that took over a year of dedication and study; not a simple task for a fifteen year old boy.

The auditions for Drum Major ended up being rigged. One of the other students had used her rich parents to put pressure on the school put to place band director’s job in jeopardy. His maverick teaching style had earned him the ire of his supervisors and presented an opportunity for his enemies to exploit. Mr. Roth yielded to their demands and allowed his principles to be compromised.

Mr. Roth violated the core principle that he had preached to the entire band. Family. I left the marching band as a result. Many of the more dedicated students who looked up to our band director followed as the story of Mr. Roth’s err in judgment spread through ranks. He had said it himself; a hypocrite was not to be tolerated.

Later, after the dust had settled and most of the talented musicians had left Mr. Roth had asked me why I had left. I told him my honest opinion. That I had looked up to him as a second father and believed in him, as he had taken a risk and believed in me. I poured out all my emotions of how I went from a scared child to my first steps as a strong and confident man because of family he had let me be a part of. When I found out that he had violated the principles that he had preached to every last one of my fellow band mates I felt hurt and betrayed as I questioned just how far the lies had been delved over the last year.

“I never asked for this.” was his only response.

This is the first and most important lesson. If you continue reading this manifesto, know that you will be faced with a choice one day. By being a leader you are given the burden of inhuman expectations. People will look up to you and ask you to guide them in their hour of need. They will demand that you be what they believe you to be, and as a leader you must be that person. You will never ask for that burden for it will be thrust upon you when you least expect it. It is by best preparing yourself for that day that you will either stand tall as the leader your people will need you to be, or be crushed under the weight you own failure.