As I stand here and watch them I feel no remorse. They have searched and have seen me from far off. They look for something they desperately desire and see salvation in my offering. Without question they follow my command, joints swollen and muscles aching. Sweat oozes from their pores and their hearts begin to beat hard and fast. A struggle to grasp patterns of breath to sustain their strength (or lack there of). An uncomfortable and rarely felt state of being. The show up day after day, asking for pain, asking for hunger, asking to be hardened like the folding of steel on an anvil. I am the hammer that pounds away on them. They will become strong, polished, and sharp. They WILL reach their goals and will become finely tuned instruments of their ambition.