Sorcery and Self-Pity

Orco gets a pretty hard time. On his own planet he is given the appellation “the Great” because of his mighty magical powers. On Eternia he is little more than the court jester. All because the laws of sorcery operate differently on the two different worlds. Specifically, the laws work backwards.

Still, Orco doesn’t mope and complain about it. “Why oh why don’t my powers work as well here on Eternia? Pity me! Pity me!” You don’t hear such things from him. (At least not much.) Although he has several vices (occasional slothfulness and gluttony, to name two), self-pity doesn’t seem to be one of them. Instead he keeps trying to improve his magic, much to Man-At-Arm’s dismay – since Man-At-Arms usually experiences the less ‘expected’ side effects of Orco’s magic. (Given how often Man-At-Arms lectures Orco, I’m not sure this is entirely an accident.)

Sometimes it’s hard not to complain when things don’t go our way, especially when we are trying hard to do something. We want to call life “unfair.” But fairness, as a concept, only applies to thinking beings, like humans and cyclopses (cyclopsi?) and Trallans (Orco’s people). It doesn’t apply to things like disease, hurricanes, or gravity. Unless those things were caused by Skeletor. And believe me, at one time or another, they were caused by Skeletor. Man, he does a lot of unfair things. Just thinking about his bony face screwed up in laughter and gloating makes me so mad! Easy, easy. One battle at a time.

Anyways, things happen that we don’t like. Sitting around complaining about it doesn’t usually make things any better. Making a plan and making an effort often do. It doesn’t always work – just ask Man-At-Arms. But it’s a whole lot better than crying on your bed, feeling sorry for yourself. Okay, crying on your bed in self-pity can be pretty satisfying. But the world will still suck when you finally get up.