“Nothing’s changed.”
I was wrong.
My words to Alfred, in the days leading up to one of the greatest fights I’ve ever had, ring ever so hollow, given the present. I had become jaded. Failures, my own as well as those inflicted on me, weighed heavily. I had been let down so many times. As I had said before, how many good guys were left? How many stayed that way? I had started thinking that all that was left for me to do was to wage this war, on my own, until the weight of all those failures, all this time, took me under.
But I was wrong.
Things have changed.
All it took was someone willing to show me a better way. Even through my stubborn resolve, I was forced to see that was anything but over, and most surprisingly, I was not going to have to fight it alone. And though this powerful new ally was enough alone to change my thinking, I knew that there would soon be others. Maybe even many.
It is still early in this new fight. I have only begun to gather my forces, and the work is slow, and often delayed. At times, the pace is infuriating, and it would be easy to settle for the older ways, the easier ways. Even so, the work continues. As a result, so do I.
The last time I stood here, I contemplated the end of my fight. I was weary, and uncertain how to proceed. But now, things are very different. Certainly, there is still some uncertainty, but the path forward is clear.
We certainly did put up one hell of a fight, last time. But in my haste, I neglected the fact that it was just a fight. The war goes on. So we marshal our allies and prepare to do what some would say is impossible:
We’re going to change everything.
