A Brief Sermon by Belon
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My fellow mendicants,
Many people follow the sun, but we live in a world where many more do not. There are many gods, many creeds, many paths by which people can choose their life, and not all are wrong, for in the multiverse, who can claim to say that there way is best? Only the most arrogant and ignorant of the splendors of this world can truly say that there way is the only way, and in this- Lathander teaches us to always improve.
Be better.
If you can run ten miles today, run eleven tomorrow.
If you can lift 150 pounds, lift 160 tomorrow.
You helped one person today, help two tomorrow.
Improve. Strive. Be proud of your improvements, not what you can do.
As we struggle and fight against evil, we must be ever mindful of this- it is not the success, but the struggle, for our battle is eternal, as infinite as the cosmos, and without doubt necessary- for there shall never be an end to evil as long as there is sentience. We stand on an isle of good intentions and this island stands in front of the the morass of neutrality behind it- undeserving, unworthy, and wretched- people who merely look to their own house and fence and do not look beyond.
Yet, on this island, we hold the line with high walls of righteous piety and intent. On this island, we can count on few others, and must acknowledge that those we protect, defend, and lay down our life for...
Shall be at times, ungrateful, use us to their advantage, and spit on our dead graves, we the few who fight to defend the many- because it serves their short-sighted interests.
In this, we can become lonely- and seek alliances, stand beside those who may not share our collective principle - and in our desperation for friends and people we may feel we can relate to- tolerate them.
These people have a saying, "Divided we fall, united we stand."
This is a platitude, an empty statement meant to justify such relationships, of how people can be awful, evil, and wicked- and say 'we need them,' - 'we require them,' and, without them, our high walls and island will be overrun, and the mass behind us will suffer and fall into darkness.
This statement is a lie, and in it, lies only darkness.
Our walls are high because we have principles.
Our watch towers lit because we do not yield to pragmatism and convenience.
The light shines because we do not compromise our willingness to confront and fight evil because we might believe we will fall.
IT IS NOT OUR FAULT THAT BAD THINGS HAPPEN.
To blame ourselves in failing to protect others is foolishness in the extreme- you did not make the necromancer raise and defile the dead. You did not make the bandit plunder that caravan, it is not your responsibility to bare the weight of their crimes.
It is our duty to keep to stand against it.
If you should fail to do so, and in so doing, let them reap lives and wealth justly earned, it is a tragedy- and you fought hard, and that is enough.
For if good men do nothing and look the other way, we shall let our walls crumble, and our watch towers grow dark.
Do not let "Unity" blind you to the evils your neighbors may perpetrate, the wicked things they do in dark places, keep your torches lit, and should evil pass, confront them, even if it means losing a friend.
The Light is the Way.
