Even better if you can provide your own understanding of its meaning.
Mine would be :
“Nothing kills a man as much as being forced to represent a country” (and err considering the context, I must stress it has nothing to do with the current US shitshow), by a WW1 soldier, illustrator and writer named Jacques Vaché.
For me it just means being forced into representing a group (national, of course, but maybe also social, racial, sexual, professional, any kind of group) or defining one’s identity only by reference to a group is to be avoided at all costs.
Note : Its not the same, imho, as engaging in a collective struggle or defense against a common oppression.
How about you?
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
How I interpret it is that when things get bad, and reach a new level of bad, that could be just what is needed for the pendulum to swing the other way, and swing extra hard.
Kind of like a Great Depression giving labour laws kind of a thing.
Gives me hope.