(Was that an invitation to an argument? I think it was an invitation to an argument. Yay to my favorite activity.
Also, not good dealing with emotional people. I prefer cold logic. And I can't avoid walls of text on the internet. Ah, the problems of writing arguments in the forum game.))
"Flint, I know well and truly that the world is not fair. And I am not counting on a plan to keep me safe.
But you couldn't be more wrong about the rules or the road map. We follow what we know and do what we can. We distinguish patterns in the chaos, and adapt to avoid having to rely on luck. And yes, we hand on madly, for as long as we can. But you know what?
Some of us refuse to hand on. Some of give up and jump. Some of us blunder into the murderous unknown with the word "Death" written on it in giant letters, and refuse to acknowledge that there is such a thing as turning back.
You have said that the only thing that matters is your skills, your resolve, and your luck. You know what, I won't argue with that. You win that part hands down. But for the love of life, think about what you say! Your skills, is not only how strong your hands and legs are, but also knowledge, experience, that you have earned. Your skills, are the knowledge when to fight, how to fight, and when not to fight.
Your resolve, is the willpower to make hard decisions. Any brainwashed idiot can go forward to his oblivion, and any coward can run from danger. Your resolve, is what sets you apart from both. It is when you are able to say to yourself "I was wrong" or "I was right". It is when you can tell yourself the truth, and nothing but the truth. And the truth is, that you are tired. That your head hurts. That even on the other side, there will be no help and nothing will improve. Stop imagining how cool you look doing that, and don't mistake resolve for stubbornness Flint, beware.
And you know what, I am not finished yet. In your self-righteous reply, you have managed to call me a coward. But you know what is the truth about me? The one thing I am not afraid of is death. I have threw my life away too many times to be concerned about it now. I am standing here because we have expected you to come back. Because you volunteered to investigate this tunnel, and we were waiting for the results, and for you to come back. But let me tell you one thing. We are on our third day of exploration. And the truth of the story is, that the most cowardly, the most useless, the most despised of us, will see more interesting stuff and be more productive than you. Because in your hunt for "interesting and productive" you have deprived yourself of the "interesting and productive" for the rest of the year, for the rest of the mission, and for the rest of HMRC and beyond."