Ask a Badass

I will set myself to answering your question if you will agree to allow me to dismantle it afterwards. Do the ruthless face justice? It is a question I had many an occasion to ask throughout my life, as I was vilified by men who wanted Prussia to belong to its military, not its people. I continued to fight and pray for a Germany united by Prussia as an example of equality, not military might. I was made a stalking horse and used to belittle my own cause. Despite the clear desire of the people to be made part of their government, the elite decried liberalism as “English degeneracy” because of my support of it.

I was lucky to have found a refuge in my marriage. We protected each other from the snubs and slights of his father the Emperor and prepared for the day we would finally lead our homeland. Prussia had become my home, you see. My enemies said my desire for change was proof I wasn’t a real Prussian. I said my wish to make Prussia into her best incarnation was proof I was her true daughter.

I had spent so long with my family as my stronghold, I was unprepared for an attack from within. Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who’d whispered and maneuvered against me, finally managed to take my son. He turned my son so thoroughly from me that I was struck from his heart.

My Wilhelm had loved me once. I had letters of his devotion. It was Bismarck who played on his insecurity, his desperate desire to prove himself martial despite his poor arm. Like a snake, Bismarck wrapped himself around my son’s neck and dripped poison in his ear.  He strangled the love of my son and turned it to venom. With every cruelty I received from my son, I wondered if Bismarck would ever pay for the wounds he’d inflicted.

My beloved husband died after less than 100 days as Kaiser. One of my son’s first acts in power was to send soldiers to raid our home. In despair and grief, I retired from court.  Not two years later, Bismarck was at my door.

Imagine my feelings at the sight of the kneeling man who had destroyed my relationship with my son, who had humiliated me and made a wreck of the liberal dreams of my husband and my father. Imagine my shock to hear his request. He was begging me to intercede with my son on his behalf.

I could have pitied him, had he not hurt so many. Not for the begging, of course. He deserved more humiliation than the world can contain. But it showed me how little he understood of love and human connection. Had he understood how precious the love of a child is, he could never have asked anything of the parent he’d robbed.

I told him that even had I wanted to help, he himself had removed my means of doing so. Bismarck died out of power and disillusioned. Wilhelm remained in power. The volatility and viciousness Bismarck fostered in him set the course for the senseless death of millions.

Fortune does turn, but time is long and cannot change course. The cruel and ruthless eventually fall from their summit, but that does not undo the damage they have done while on it. There is no point, however, in wasting your energy wishing for a fall. Even if you see it, it will be a bitter victory at best.

But I do not believe that means we should abandon ourselves to our own wishes. That is the error of your question. We act in kindness not for fear of consequence, but in hope of connection. We human beings are each other’s only tethers.

When we stop seeing ourselves in others, when we stop acting for the good of all the Lord has placed within our sphere, we do ourselves the most desperate injustice. We cut ourselves off, not only from Grace but from each other. We imprison ourselves in our own withering bodies and our spirits rot forgotten.

So, protect yourself from the wolves around you and seek to protect others. Do not become one yourself. Do this not for fear of the inevitable fall, but for the inestimable joy to be found only in others.

Victoria, the 99-day Empress