I Promise I Won't Kill Myself, But I Don't Promise I Won't Die

Repairing the past requires dedication to your own actions and choices to turn the wheel of destiny for good.

- Christiane, continued Julius with a serious and almost solemn tone. You said just now that because of your too long silence Frederique and Lothario are now separated. Well, it is your duty now to act to bring them together, and instead of opposing what I will undertake to that end, you must support my projects, help me to carry out my plan, whatever it may be. Let us repair the harm we have done and, if we suffer afterwards, at least have done our duty.

- I'm ready, she said, resigned.

- Here's what you need to do. Frederique is at Eberbach. You will go there, bring her secretly to Paris, so that Samuel will not suspect anything. She is probably restless. You will inform her. Here, she will live with you, you will protect her, you will be her mother. No one will know that you are in Paris and that you are with her. I, in the meantime, will continue my plan.

- What plan?

- Do not ask me.

Leadership: How might you combine the contrast between past mistakes and present actions to shape a perspective of your life in which symmetry and harmony become fundamental principles?

- Oh ! she burst out, it's something terrible, since you don't have the courage to tell me, I who revealed such terrible things to you !

- The first condition for me to succeed, said Julius, is an absolute secret. If the walls knew what I wanted to do, everything would collapse. Samuel must sink into a deep silence. Let him not be afraid of anything, let him think that he is pulling me on a string like in the past.

- What I want to do, I know only myself and I try to think as little as possible about this thing, for fear that no vague intention will be read on my face. When the moment comes, everything will suddenly break out of my heart, like a lion from its den, and woe to him who will feel a claw in his throat.

Leadership: Have you ever felt the subtle balance of your decisions shape the destinies of those around you, at times when your self is faced with existential dilemmas?

In the effort to repair the wrongs of the past, taking responsibility and collaboration become essential pillars for correcting the situations created by one's own actions, highlighting the healing power of solidarity and personal sacrifice in the name of the common good.

Count von Eberbach paused, as if regretting that he had spoken too much.

- It is enough for you to know, he continued, that my plan is twofold: I will serve my family and my country. You, who love me, would not, would you, banish the supreme consolation of accomplishing such ends with my already cold hands? Come, be generous, be intelligent, be above the petty interests that prefer reality to the joys of the soul, and give me your consent. Tell me that you allow me to die and that you promise me to live.

- I promise you I won't kill myself, said Christine, but I don't promise you I won't die.

In leadership, the only reliable teacher is the awareness of choosing a course of action that combines the clear intention of the proposed goal with the correction of situations in which you do not feel seen for what you do.

I promise you I won't kill myself, but I don't promise you I won't die, these are the words of a man who would like to right the wrongs of the past through personal sacrifice. But repairing the past requires courage and dedication to your own actions and choices in order to turn the wheel of destiny for good. Sometimes the delicate balance between the desire for revenge and its consequences leaves you feeling torn between the values you identify with and the guilt that prevents you from being happy.

* Note: Alexandre, Dumas - The Hand of Providence, Vestala Publishing House, 1993