Pull. Push. Pull. Push.
What is the measure of a leader? It is not his ability to give orders, for any man can make demands. Nor is it their ability to plan and act, for planning does not equate to results. The true measure of a leader is heart, and the human heart is measured in blood, sweat and tears.
Pull. Push. Pull. Push.
I see a machine, known as an Ergometer. The harder one pulls the cord and pushes the handle, the more the machine resists against you. The Ergometer will measure the strength and endurance of he who uses it.
Arcadia is home to many men who show heart, Maxwell. You are one of them. As a hero, you pulled and pushed your way into Arcadian folklore. But as a father, your new purpose sees the true test of your heart.
Even I can see, as clear as day, that there is nothing you would not do for your son. But as much heart as you show, this does not make you a LEADER.
It is the very same reason that Grimskull. As much as he preaches with the heart of a man filled with his own passionate ego, will continue to sorely miss the point. His words will forever fall on deaf ears.
He can kidnap my recruits. He can torture them to within an inch of their lives but they will not waver from their faith. His conquest will never defeat the Third Eye. He will continue to fail, as he has always done. For as much as you are not a leader, Maxwell, neither is he.
You have been measured and found wanting, because the true measure of a LEADER is not the heart you show, but measured in the hearts of those that FOLLOW you. That, Maxwell, is an area in which you are sorely lacking.
You have spent your life pushing and pulling, toiling away to prove your own name. To make up for your failures, you push harder. But everything you have done has only had the same result. You’ve simply pushed Faith further away from you.
He shows your same heart, seeking his own answers. But where you are a man who ponders why things are the way they are, Faith is a boy of his own heart. He does not follow yours.
The heart of Faith is his ability to act. He does something about his struggles. He is hell bent on spilling his own blood, sweat and tears. He’s learnt the very same approach to life you have.
Keep pushing, keep pulling.
All in your own strength.
And that’s why father and son will never see eye to eye.
I am no follower, Maxwell. Nor am I a man who fights in my own strength. I am part of something so much grander than your petty mind could ever comprehend.
I see what you do not. That the true heart of a leader is in those that follow, nor blindly leading yourself into danger. Open your eyes, Maxwell, and see what which your eyes cannot.