I Will Leave The Choice To You
Learn to properly manage a situation in which you are put in a difficult position, in an attempt to find the truth that empowers you, or to justify your actions without hurting others.
I insulted you. Of course you will ask me for a repair. I offer you. At six o'clock, today, be on the bridge of Saint-Denis. Cross it, turn left and walk along the river for about ten minutes. When you reach a thick curtain of poplars, if you don't see me, wait for me.
Come alone. I will also come alone. I will bring two pistols with me. Only one will be loaded.
I will leave the choice to you. If you kill me, the letter itself will serve as your justification. I admit that I provoked you and slapped you, that I put you in a situation of absolute necessity, under the threat of being publicly disgraced, and that I decided and demanded the terms of the duel. If I kill you, you need not worry about my fate, I am in a situation where nothing scares me anymore.
But one of us must die. At least one, maybe both. I am too unhappy and you are too mean, Julius von Eberbach.
This letter extinguished the last glimmer of hope in Lothario's heart. He said not a word about Count von Eberbach's grudge against his nephew, and by demanding a duel without witnesses, deprived Lothario of any chance of learning the truth. However, he felt more and more that at the base of the terrible situation was a horrible confusion that he had to clear up at any cost. He rummaged through his memories in vain, he had done nothing to allow or even justify his uncle's rage.
Leadership: Can you form an objective perspective on yourself in a context such as: "I cannot know the truth unless I know the cause", to indicate that you should not overestimate or underestimate yourself?
He had been wrong, perhaps, towards his uncle. Engaged and married by him to Frédérique, he had perhaps not sufficiently managed the susceptibilities of a delicate and completely unusual situation. He had not, perhaps, respected Count von Eberbach's jealousy, he had not been careful enough not to give pretexts to his suspicions, he had disregarded his orders, seeing Frédérique again two or three times on the road from Enghien.
But from these disobediences, excusable at his age, because of his love and the relations which the count himself had established between him and Frédérique, from these slurs of love, to real accusations, to a serious insult, to an insult that would justify retaliation to Count von Eberbach, it was a real chasm. His uncle was certainly not referring to such mistakes when he attributed to him the word with which he ended his letter: a scoundrel.
Yes ! beneath their things there was something, some scheming, some betrayal ! But who will reveal the motive of this enigma?
Leadership: Can you establish a link of causality and tension between efforts to search your memories and the chance to learn the truth, without exposing yourself to the danger of being humiliated or discredited in public?
To go straight to his uncle and demand an explanation, forcing him to tell everything, Lothario could not even think of. It would have meant exposing himself to new violence in front of the people who would have been present, the servants, the whole world. And there had already been quite a stir around the sad and gloomy event.
And then, whatever filial feelings Lothario might have had, and however hopeless he felt at having to contend with one who had always been so good to him, his whole blood revolted at the thought of being obliged to demand an explanation from a man who- She had slapped him twice in one day, once with the glove and now with this letter.
Who to contact? perhaps to Mr. Samuel Gelb ! Yes, Mr. Samuel Gelb had given him and Frederica evidence of sincere friendship. He, who had loved Frédérique, who was the master of her future, subduing her both by her past and by the oath she had taken, had had the magnanimity to give her up and give her to Lothario. And after that, his generosity had not faltered for a single moment. He always took the side of Frederica and Lothario, against the machinations of Count von Eberbach. He was indeed a reliable friend, who would not have failed him in such a decisive circumstance.
In order to advance in the knowledge of leadership, you must consider it essential to have an objective perspective on your own person in many contexts of "denying the truth and taking power", to avoid overestimating or underestimating yourself. Only in this way will you be able to maintain a realistic and healthy balance of your self-perception.
I Will Leave You The Freedom Of Choice whenever you face me, the truth, the truth about what you do not yet know about your own person, leaving the outcome of the final judgment to God. In any case, the fight for the truth is important as long as your "opponent" is not the pride of feeling stronger than you really are, or the ambition to satisfy your whims.
* Note: Alexandre Dumas - Mâna providenţei , Editura Alutus, 1993.
