Larger than life, standing astride the threshold of the birth of a great civilization. Behind, the bucolic life of a shepherd bounded by faith, ritual, and history. Beyond, the fathering of a new age mothered by faith, ritual, and history. Betwixt past and future, the present, a looming, gigantic presence threatening annihilation and erasure from history.

An obstacle of hesitation, uncertainty, fear. To flee means to cringe and crawl, to supplicate, beg, serve. To fight, if only to lose, means dignity, honor, courage, slavery, and pride for the stand, for facing the obstacle that overwhelmed and conquered, but not without a fight.

The moment of decision and clarity. Not of the outcome, but of the knowledge that the fight must be waged. A faith that right will prove stronger than might. A certainty that meekness does not mean cowardice, or that the weak cannot win over brawn. A confidence not in strength or in skill or in weaponry, but a confidence in faith, ritual, and history.

Beauty conquered ugliness. Truth defeated untruth. Love triumphed over hate. The hollowness of the powerful, the emptiness of the soulless, overcome and annihilated by faith, ritual, and history.