The Hero's Paradox

Why does everything have to die? I don't want them to die. I can't keep them from dying. That's why all superheroes in mythology eventually end. They go out in a blaze of glory, or they disappear forever, or they die, just like the people they serve. Otherwise, they would go mad.

Your duty is to save, but you cannot save. You cannot succeed. This is the Hero's Paradox. I must, but I cannot.

The only answer is to not do that which nature, fate, duty drives you to do. Let go; let them die; let them live their meaningless lives. Do not hold yourself responsible for everything you could have stopped, for to try to stop all that must be stopped is madness.

But be it nature, be it fate, be it simply inbred duty, I must. I must struggle, I must fight, I must overcome, I must protect, I must, I must, I must.

I cannot.

Bringing a knife to a gunfight

No matter what kind of knife you bring, it won't hold up in a gunfight. But no matter what kind of gun you bring, it doesn't matter at all if the other guy can bomb you from 50,000 feet.