Resilience versus dominance
To be the dominator, the bully, the strong man, the cowboy, Goliath, King…might seem the greater power.
And perhaps, when we break time into a linear motion where now is the only time, this might be true.
We fail to account for the steady, enduring power of resilience.
The long-term play, strategic, patient, tuned into the larger time patterns of Universe. Kairos time. (https://syntropic.world/kairos-time-the-clock-of-the-heavens/)
People who have been at the interface of domination and superiority all of their lives. Even all of the lives of their ancestors going back generations.
Places in West Asia that have known the almost constant threat of the hegemon.
When they dig deep into the psyche of resilience and choose, even through persecution, to endure and plan for that future moment, it is a smarter, more strategic form of power.
When the hegemon holds the oppressed by the throat for a long time, strategic resilience is a superpower. It comes at a great price, the loss of many.
Yet history continues to demonstrate that it is the resilient who endure and survive in the end.
The hegemon, Empire, always falls.
It took 35 years of relentless action to end apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by many Western states. 35 years is a blimp in the scheme of things.
Iran has been planning for decades to endure against Empire. It has a history of endurance dating back 6000 years. Empire was not prepared for the level of planning for this exact moment, which Iran knew was coming.
The Palestinians endure. The Lebanese endure. The Afghans endure. Sometimes, in their endurance, they grow militias for defence, and often these militias are termed terrorist organisations, as if the right to self-defence is only awarded to one side of the killing fields. To be clear, very bad actions by evil people happen within every military. But the terrorists are often those who have the greatest power, especially when no one in their military is held to account for their evil actions.
Here is the power of resilience.
Bullies cannot survive without victims.
When we stop being a victim, even when we have a gun to our head, when we choose instead to be strategic, to plan and play the very long game, our freedom from the oppressor is written in time. We may not get to see it. But we must continue to act it into existence.
I do not endorse the Iranian government and its oppression of its people. But I do stand with the Iranian people. I do not endorse the USA government and its oppression of its people, through different means like medical and student debt, terrible inequality and armed thugs on the streets, but I do stand with the American people.
Let us all play the game of resilience, strategically preparing for a world that values all of life.
Photo Taken April 13th 2026. Article published April 13 th 2026
