The Silent

"To die is to be a counterfeit, for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true
and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have sav'd my life."
- Falstaff, Henry IV

So first off, I'd like to share this photo of a random everyday scene at some Russian subway train. I've always wondered why Russia always looks so bleak, but that's beside the point. At first glance, there's nothing out of the ordinary about the photo. However, the man holding the grocery bags is one Fedor Emelianenko. To those who do not follow MMA, Fedor is generally regarded as the greatest of all time in the sport by both fans and champions alike. He is most notable for having a quiet personality, which added to his mystique and instilled fear in his opponents. One of Fedor's most well known characteristic is that he maintains a calm and cold look even when he was viciously beating down someone, or was being beaten up himself.

Needless to say, like most athletes who excel in their sport, he probably has oodles of cash lying around somewhere. It's odd to see someone in a similar position as he is riding public transportation like everyone else. That certainly never happens in a country like ours, where there is a point when fame or fortune gets into someone's head - and they end up thinking they suddenly don't belong to the same category as most people.

That's probably where humility comes into the equation. A lot of people - and I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of this at times - tend to blow their own horns when it comes to their accomplishments or abilities. I guess everyone needs their egos stroked at times, but there's a point where it stops being admirable and turns into asshattery.

In any case, people will be people. Maybe those folks were right when they said humans inherently seek some form of approval from some higher authority. While this beats the purpose of right-for-the-sake-of-righteousness, it is sadly prevalent in our society. I guess old dogs can't learn new tricks.

At the very least, it's nice to see people try.