But protagonists are protagonists and heroes are heroes.

Everyone of them there are heroes. Everyone of them that died has given their lives just like the ones before them, for my rights to freedom. We're here to honor that.

We have a need for heroes as a species, you know. That is one of the distinguishing traits of humans. We have a need to have an idealized sense of who we are at our best.

Because life doesn't work that way. You can do everything perfectly. Do everything you think you're supposed to be doing. Fulfill every expectation that other people may have. And you still won't get the results you think you deserve. Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense.

It would cut into him at unpredictable moments, like a gutting knife made of colored light.

I remember my father telling me about England’s redrawing of India’s boundaries when it became independent. They wanted to separate the Hindu from the Muslim, but they used outdated maps. Twelve million people had to relocate because the Brits screwed it up so badly. And a half million people died during the resulting chaos. And before that, Iraq was unilaterally cobbled together, causing many of the conflicts we see today. There are dozens of such examples. The strong countries smashing the weaker ones and then avoiding responsibility later for the very problems they caused.”

“You keep proving my point, Tom, that we’re rotten to the core.”

“My point is we never learn!