The sword, the world, the hammer...

To those of you whom have me on Facebook, you would probably have read my statuses at one point of time or another. While, they usually do not reflect what I am actually doing, some are glimmers into what goes on in my world. Random thoughts, quotes from media, that sort of thing. Now, one of the more recent ones was:

"I carry the weight of the world on my back, the judge's hammer in my left, and the soldier's sword in my right"

To most of you, these words are probably something of a manifestation of a desire to affirm my masculinity though the symbolic values of each of the objects; men carry the weight of the world, and I put myself in that position to affirm my masculinity. Men fight to protect their homes and families, and so they carry the sword. By projecting an image of myself holding a sword, I might by trying to, yet again, affirm masculinity. Also, swords, according to Freud, are also very phallic symbols. Men are in positions of power, holding the authority to pass judgement onto others, hence the judge's hammer. However, while this is a possible interpretation, the true root of the statement lies not within myself, but my preception of another.

I have two names, Gabriel and Daniel. Now, these names are of biblical origin, and hold meanings in Hebrew. "Gabri-El" means "strong man of God", or interpretable to be "God is my strength". Since ancient times, the sword has been the symbol of strength, hence the sword. "Dan-I-El" means "Judgement of God" or "Judged by God". Hopefully the former, in my case. The judge's emblem is the hammer.  And we all know the story of the man who carried the weight of the world upon His shoulder.

So, by now, all the Christians reading are going, "OOOOOOOH." No, it's not that simple.

You see, I am, I believe, very damned unique. I have yet to meet anyone who is in any shape exactly similar to me. Seriously. There are my friends, people whom I have similar interests, personalities which match, not people who are like me. Probably cause if I were to ever spend time around someone who was exactly like me, I would go crazy.

Having said that, I believe in what I call thinking forward. It's becoming what you think yourself to be. Hence, projecting an image of myself where I am strong enough to support my world, fair and impartial in judgements, and have the strength to carry on in my endeavours, I believe I will one day become that. That's why I put it up.

Remember the lessons of the past, live the challenges of the present, and face the troubles of the future head on!

-Gabe