To be human, is to struggle. To fight against the world and everything that it tells you you cannot do, and to fight against yourself and what you tell you that you cannot do. To want something, to want to live, to want to love, to want to learn, requires struggle. There will be times where doing something will be simple, you'll be motivated to do it, and you'll breeze through it easily enough. Other times, it will be a chore. You will work against your base desires to achieve something greater than you. Whether that be getting a high grade on a test, or doing some ridiculous challenge in a video game, or even if it is struggling to desire to live. If you want something, then you will work for it day in and day out, never wavering, never faltering in your desire. You will devote your entire being to completing that task, because to you, it is worth it. And that satisfaction, that joy when you overcome your challenge, and complete the task you set yourself, is an integral part of being human.
Time and time again, I've heard Guts heralded as the most "human" protagonist. While that is a subjective view, depending on how you view Guts and on how you view what being "human" means. However, what is an objective point about Guts, is that he fights against what the world says he should do, and what his body says it should do. This is shown time and time again, where he fought for revenge, despite the fact that he could have lived a peaceful life if he hadn't sought it. He fought for Casca, despite the fact that she feared him and it seemed that she wouldn't recover. And he fought to live, despite everyone telling him that he couldn't, shouldn't. For me, as a person who has fought, even just a tiny amount, for the desire to live, and for the desires of my heart, I respect that. That is why I continue to fight. That is why I continue to live. That is why I am writing this right now, despite the fact that there are better things I could be doing with my time. Because I want to.
Thank you, Kentaro Miura, for helping to give me the will to fight for what I want, for what I believe.