It was that he could no longer have it for free.

The medal, I told him in effect, now requires the battle.

You may keep the photos on your desk and the pride in your voice, but only if you also do the bottles, and the baths, and the sleepless shifts, because an identity you have not earned through labor is not an honor, it is a fraud, and I am done subsidizing your fraud with my own unrecognized work.

It was, I think, the fairest thing I have ever demanded of anyone.