Photo by [Adam Kubalica on Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnezja/7588927944/in/photolist-cyBeTf-c95pv3-dDzc3s-6BsrEg-6c8ETs-cA4swL-7BJFoe-cyXLLE-7infhG-cyXosw-9Af6sm-cyjb1A-qNnQXj-a5Wdv4-7RCJbD-73PeU5-e892hx-Gqiyeo-cyiCZh-dajHU1-bYbCYE-5dkUGw-TiukZW-Cwh9x-9sjpBZ-5dkUJL-ipGtZN-efyJ2f-4QshhE-SXgxXs-acLHjb-fP1HDs-bxzGpX-5Xg5jC-a8e8gX-i1coYy-9oCGFZ-KYKam-9Ac9tX-9Ac7Ge-7BREue-cyiZyW-4qb8ia-cyj7YA-8jYE6y-9oCFVt-TxheK4-9oFF5h-cyjfoE-5dgzJP)
Currently I'm reading Brian Evenson (one of my favorite writers)'s *Last Days*. Evenson is not your typical horror writer. His stories are largely psychological, surreal yet accessible, and darkly humorous.
Last Days fits all of these categories—and yes, it is dark, and deranged. I am not going to lie. But it also contains some surprisingly inspirational lessons.
Mr. Kline, the protagonist, begins his journey with a string of unfortunate events. First, he is assaulted by a man who hacks off his hand.
Shortly after, he gets kidnapped by a cult of amputees who proceed to further torment him. One sign of status in this cult is the number of amputations that a member has. Mr. Kline quickly realizes he must sacrifice additional limbs for a rise in status, if he wants to have any chance of escaping his situation.
Interestingly, Mr. Kline's character also changes—for the better—in response to these circumstances. He goes from being someone who seemingly has no inner life—content to spend the rest of his day lounging around his house, living off his settlement money—to someone who is resourceful, determined, and even witty in the face of dire circumstances.
He manages to survive one seemingly impossible scenario after another, until another character remarks:
“You are, friend Kline, I must say, a charmed man. It appears you can’t be killed. Though the same unfortunately cannot be said for almost anyone who comes in contact with you.”
Hopefully none of us will have to undergo Mr. Kline's situation. This is also not to say that we need to endure great struggle in order to experience breakthroughs.
However, if we do encounter challenging circumstances, we have two choices: we can crumble and wilt, or we can rise to the occasion, remembering that we are bigger than our circumstances.
Also, remember that circumstances, as dense and all-encompassing as they seem sometimes, are not us. Within us is a burning, eternal flame that we can tap into whenever we feel hopeless.
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