On Sacrifice

Sacrifice is an interesting word; it carries with it a lot of negative connotations. As an entrepreneur I am no stranger to sacrifice. There are a lot of hard choices that need to be made when first starting a business. You make these sacrifices with the hope and anticipation that the rewards gained down the road will some how offset them.

I have found that I have a very different view of sacrifice. Perhaps it has something to do with my military background where it was the rule and not the exception. Personal sacrifice for the greater good was just part of the job description of being a Marine. The saying, “The hardest job in the Marine Corps is being a Marine’s wife,” I think says it all.

“Sometimes to do what is right we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most, even our dreams.” Peter Parker/Spiderman, Spiderman 2

For some the word sacrifice means that you gave up something that you really didn’t want to give up. I would argue that is not always the case, as sometimes what we think we want isn’t what we really desire at all. Another side of that is that if we sacrifice for someone we love is it really a sacrifice.

“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert Heinlein

I would argue that a sacrifice made for someone you love is no sacrifice at all. Love after all is about putting the needs and wants of another above your own. A thought processes that I find most people I run into don’t share. Is this a cultural shift, a result of the Me generation? I don’t know. For me it is completely natural to subjugate my needs for the woman I love.

There is a great scene about just that in the movie ‘A Knight’s Tale’ where the character of William is told by his love to loose a jousting tournament to prove his love. William being full of pride and bravado of course protests the idea of loosing as proof his love quite verbosely. Yet as he sits atop his horse preparing to make his first run he stops and allows the opposing knight to strike winning the match.

When asked by his companions what he is doing he proclaims he is proving his love. Match after match William sits upon his steed taking blow after blow. William went against his desire to win glory and fame to fulfill the wish of his true love. What nobler a sacrifice could there be?