people with destinies… things don’t go well for them.
they die old and unhappy or young and unfinished.

Kings (2009)

“On this mission I am not your friend.”
-
“I’m not your enemy.”
“Enemies I understand. You… I don’t know what you are.”

God’s signal to begin.

(…) the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David,
and Jonathan loved him as himself.

1 Samuel 18:1

You can do better.

#what he meant: do me.

And that’s when they came. I felt a shadow above me. I looked up and saw a great swarm of butterflies. And they circled around me like leaves in a storm, floating, soft landing upon my head like a crown, a living crown. God’s signal to begin.

—

- I was there. That day. I saw. The crown of butterflies. What did that mean to you, David?
- It’s hard to put in words. I grew up hearing your story, how the butterflies crowned your head, and you knew you were meant to be king. So when they came to me, I knew. It was God… speaking to me, a nothing farm boy, telling me to serve my king.
- And nothing else?
- What else could it mean?

- Let me give you a parting gift, your obol coin in the mouth. It is always better to be loved than feared. Some of us made the mistake the other way, and it does not go well. Die loved, you die happy.
- I’d rather live miserable.

“The lights are down. Be anyone you want.”