So, what's this "Molon labe" thing about?

Molon Labe (or, more correctly; ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ) is roughly translated to mean "Come and take them" and was most famously known to have been proclaimed by King Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae, in response to the command to lay down his weapons. Despite the odds, he was defiant because he earned what he had been entrusted to protect, and refused to surrender it without a fight. Even when faced with certain death.

You can never enslave a free man, you can only kill him. To those men at Thermopylae, and to millions of Americans, when given the choice between life enslaved, and death; there is no choice.

Breda was reminded of this fighting spirit by an unlikely source; a tiny mouse. A tiny mouse which she felt had more (pardon my word choice, but there is hardly a word which captures the spirit so adequately) balls than some Americans. Go read her account.

When you're done, read all the ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ links to similar stories at the bottom, and begin to understand what having the fighting spirit means.

The fighting spirit is something that has lain dormant in majority of Americans for quite some time now. Far too long for a country that was founded by it. It was heartening when I used to read stories about mothers mustering that spirit for the cause of protecting their children, but even that natural spirit seems to be becoming suppressed. When asked what the most dangerous place in the forest is, the answer comes quickly; between a mother bear and her cubs. Somehow it's natural to understand an animal fighting to protect what it loves, but humans are excused as being too civilized to resort to force to protect what they love. (though far too many fail to love themselves, it seems) The wolves and other animals who have disguised themselves as humans have taken note, and need only issue forceful requests to cause these civilized humans to roll over, and expose their belly.

How can a society survive when its citizens are so full of despair that they are not willing to fight even for their own lives? Listening to people lately makes me feel like I'm reading Atlas Shrugged. "What's to be done?" "Who can do anything?" "What's the point?"
"Who is John Galt?"

It disturbs me to my core to hear this sentiment echoed by coworkers, acquaintances, and even friends. Americans, world renowned (and world resented) for their can do spirit, twisting their faces into perplexing expressions of ambivalence before uttering the contemptible;

"Yeah, but what can I do about it?"

Resigned to their feckless existence, they look to people of power who promise dubious solutions to all their problems, if only they'll offer their dollars or their votes.
This is how kings are made.

We are all individuals, we are all just single faces among the 6 BILLION others on this water-covered rock hurtling through a cold, unforgiving space. But the world is changed by individuals. Our history books aren't filled with groups and ideas, they're filled with faces and names of individuals who stood up, above the crowd, and changed the face of the world. For good, or ill. These were people who knew that they mattered, and set out to make history. You too are an individual; you are not a group, a number, or a member. You are an individual, and you have the strength to change the world. Anyone who would tell you otherwise seeks only to eliminate you as competition. Fight for what you deserve, and if you don't think you deserve it, fight yourself until you do.

Never give up.
Never give up.
Never give up.

Fight.

No matter the odds.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ