On the History of Men
By Christian Morisot.
The individual is free and responsible for their behavior. Therefore, it is undeniable that they do not act according to a program or a predetermined destiny; they act according to their own free will. This is how it is; it is in their nature. Selfishness may be, in their eyes, a right, as are laziness, a thirst for power and money, jealousy, and obsessiveness.
Sometimes, they allow themselves to be confined within a group and adopt its arbitrary characteristics, denying a share of responsibility. For them, this means confining themselves to a fixed identity, but beyond words, reality prevails: it is clearly alienation.
Conversely, others are not afraid to question themselves and to confront the masses who impose their passivity. They are considered eccentrics, outsiders, gentle dreamers who refuse to be carbon copies of the ideal citizen.
In fact, everyone should be able to improve themselves with a genuine personal motive or reason for living, flourishing and acquiring a serene wisdom that rejects selfishness, laziness, aggression, and above all, jealousy. We know the legionnaire, a soldier free to choose his destiny, but for us, former legionnaires, it is not the same.
Age shackles us as soon as we learn the tyranny of our aging bodies. One of my elders, a retired General and a respected man, recently told me: "When you reach sixty, when a person wakes up in the morning without pain or worry, there's no point in trying to understand: they are dead..."
Fortunately, the young man believes himself immortal, and that's fine, but for the old man, the minor troubles caused by the laws of nature punctuate his existence. Traditional cultures and their pragmatic teachings remind them of this; they have been a model of society for him.
Today, for many residents of Puyloubier and Auriol, all of this has lost its meaning and importance. For them, only the obsessive concern of taking care of their health matters, so as not to succumb to illness, a true injustice and a horrific path to a lack of freedom, to a predicted shipwreck…
Men's stories come and go, but for our former legionnaires, there will always be a helping hand along the way, that little something that makes it possible to start all over again… Legionnaires returned to civilian life are free; they have the choice to escape abandonment, oblivion, the blind spot of an imposed destiny, not always chosen, thanks to our care homes that welcome them.
Would we presume to give lessons, one thing is certain, I think: simply spending time in retirement homes would reveal the appalling level of genuine distress. When one reaches this kind of situation, the time seems right to "hit the road," but it's not always easy to bow out and eke out a living a little longer, which seems to be everyone's lot.
Our meetings and contacts allow us veterans to enjoy, for a little while longer, the feeling of immortality felt by the younger generation, and that's a good thing. However, we must, together, rethink the present that confronts us and reserve our ambitions for a fraternal camaraderie that defines our immediate future, without judgment or jealousy. Certainly, we are only men, and the Legion hasn't always managed to exorcise its worst demons... But still; despite everything and against all odds: United!