Oriflamme (noun): a symbol that inspires confidence, devotion, or courage

Whenever he felt defeated, he looked down at his wrist.

Tied just over his muscular hands, was a patchy and colorful bracelet clearly woven by someone who did not know their way with threads. The first part looked alright; slightly wiggly in shape but one could still make out the striped patterns of yellow and blue. However, various lines criss-crossed clumsily across the rest of the band, and the mismatched colors clashed so harshly that it almost seemed as if its creator wove it in a blindfold.

Well, that wasn’t far from the truth.

The matriarch of the family and his loving grandmother had been succumbing to the numbness of old age and eventually became blind last month. She had been working on the little bracelet for her cute grandson, even if her poor eyes still saw a little boy instead of the tall man of today. Wrinkly and white-haired as she was, she yelled passionately at the nurses to let her finish tying up the final strands. Her hands trembled to grasp the fleeting threads and her eyes strained to see a black void, yet she managed to power through in the end.

The sloppiness only made the bracelet far more endearing.