Some break us down, and some lift us up. Some we will never escape and some we wish had never ended. Regardless of the nature of our past, its marks we will never remove. It is a matter of choice and training to ensure that these marks inform our present and dictate our future in a positive direction.
Examples of sacrifice and suffering endured in the cause of something outside of ourselves. Given enough time, these are the memories we hold most dear because they are the times we were tested, rose to the occasion and overcame. Facing the reality of our own mortality, we faced the darkness, did not hide, and became something more.
Then there are other memories that no amount of reason will ever make right. They are the manifestations of the evil endemic to the world that no one really escapes and some are demanded to experience the full measure of. One does not make it right. They experience and survive, or they do not.
However, on the other side of the past, regardless of the characterization of that past, here we still are. Remember the good and and the bad, and take pride where it is due. To sacrifice is an honor not readily experienced by most.
To serve with those doing the same and more is a greater honor still.
