No Sacrifice, No Victory

I mean it seems so simple…

In the movie Transformers, Sam Witwicky, put it all on the line. He jumped in a car, joined a bunch of alien robots and headed off to save the world. Sacrificing his chances of getting a job after causing billions of dollars in damages, possibly his reputation if he sucked at helping the Autobots, and potentially losing his life… it’s easy to see why he goes on to say (1:49) “No Sacrifice, No Victory” and 10 minutes later he gets to taste the sweet sweeeet taste of victory. Why? Because it’s a movie!!!

But we all know that life is quite the contrary…

The sacrifices we make usually don’t quickly show us the bliss of the victory. Over the past 2 years I’ve had to make the most sacrifices I’ve ever made in my life, many that affected relationships and opportunities. Many of them, still holding the bitter taste of losing something with no gain. I’m often forced to let go… Interesting how we associate sacrifice… giving up… letting go… moving on… hurting… pain… fear.

What if we changed the way we look at sacrifice?

Defined as “to surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to,for the sake of something else.” it’s no wonder why we think about it in those terms. But what if we changed sacrifice to describe a meaning… a purpose… to use what ‘we’ve let go of’ as motivation moving forward. I guess what I’m suggesting is giving the word sacrifice an empowering context. What if we used it as an advantage for the sake of something else, realizing all the lessons, experience, and understanding that sacrifice gave us to now move forward from. To embrace the sacrifice itself and make it a driving force in helping us achieve that ‘something else.’

It’s just a thought… one that I’m striving to make reality. To understand just exactly what I’ve had to sacrifice, and instead of damning the world about it, using it as energy in moving forward.. making sure the sacrifices that were made, weren’t made in vein. And what I’m soon realizing is that at the end of it all… being able to look at sacrifice from this POV… might just be that first victory I’ll soon get to see.