A Wealthy Live To Have Lived

Wealth I discovered, was in that moment. The sun was placing his glaze upon me as if he were a renowned chef flaming his creme brulee. I glistened in the profound happiness of the moment. It could've been prescribed in a painting at the Louvre, or the Christmas card you receive from your dearest Grandma. Clarity was oddly catalyzed by that luster of neither time nor space, but the clouds of heaven that gleamed upon the jump and joy of all which I found in that incredible affair. With this amazing situation at hand, I could not have allowed for it to sink in, until much later. This moment, the touch of it, is not one that most people will ever have the opportunity to experience. The wealth that was discovered therein was beyond any that gold, silver or diamonds could attain. No, this was wealth which could only be forged in the foundry of brotherhood using the ore of common experience with courageous actions in dire straights. 

Chaos had seen it's time, and it's time had been short. From out of nowhere came nothing, followed by everything. I was calmed by the need now and know how of the situation, always practiced, but never played. Nerves settling against the hard cold steel, the muscle tissues reacted. This was not the first time I had this sort of production, but certainly the first time I was responsible for the decisions that must be made. Adversities choke hold, with its easing knee pressing harder into the diaphragm, left the air barely reachable within the grasps of the mouth. Those sounds heard in such a moment are ones you will never forget. They ascend upon you like unseeable screeching eagles. Their shrieking pop is pure malice, staggering one in a way and exciting you in another. This finger painting, the mixing and matching of erratic colors, an uncontrollable fiasco, is suddenly given structure. Action as it were, a cure of this illness.

That hour, the same that it takes to boil an egg, was over. The years of brushing one's teeth, riding your bike, and taking out the trash has all been reprogrammed in that moment. You can never go back to that innocence, no matter want nor try. That pounding in the fires of the foundry, the wealth into the steel, is a look left. Then right. Everything that was done in that instant, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was done for that which stands on that left and right. They're called Brothers, but they go beyond flesh and blood. These men, those who've branded my life with their great deeds, are those who would put themselves at your side in the most uncertain of times. Times that stretch far beyond the touch of family, of friends, and even god. This is beyond privilege indeed, having known such men in my life. Having looked upon my left side to see them standing proud to have laid it all on the line for one another. Peering then to my right side, vastly humbled and beyond inspired to see them facing fears that would break most men. It is in this strength of camaraderie that I find a wealth that is beyond that of which I could ever have imagined. To have known these men, to know them today in this short time of mine, is in all consideration, to have lived the wealthiest of lives.