HEROIC SPIRITS:

 

UNLEASH THE HIDDEN HERO IN YOUR SOUL!

 

 

BY

 

MICHAEL W. GORE

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

 

  1. INTRODUCTION

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

2.   CHAPTER ONE:  HONOR

 

                  THE HONOR OF A MIGHTY MAN

 

                  THE REAL JAMES BOND

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

 

3.   CHAPTER TWO:  COURAGE

 

                  A QUEEN CALLED ESTHER

 

                  A KING CALLED MARTIN

 

                  QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

4.   CHAPTER THREE:  COMMITMENT

 

                  COMMITTED TO THE TASK

 

                  COMMITTED TO THE END

 

                  QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

5.   CHAPTER FOUR:  DUTY: EXCELLENCE IN ALL THINGS

 

                  DUTY IN DIFFICULT DAYS

 

                  IF NOT YOU, WHO?

 

                  QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

6.   CHAPTER FIVE:  LOYALTY

 

                  LOYALTY FROM A STRANGER

 

                  LOYALTY KNOWS NO COLOR!

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

7.   CHAPTER SIX:  SELFLESS SERVICE

 

                  FROM ARIZONA TO AFGHANISTAN

 

                  FROM GLORY TO GOLGOTHA

 

                  QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

8.   CONCLUSION: THE HEART OF THE MATTER

 

                  QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

 

9.  NOTES

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

“Wars may cease, but the need for heroism shall not depart from this earth, while man remains man and evil exists to be redressed.” 

Rear Admiral A. T. Mahan 1

 

            Do you have a hero?  Probably so.  Most of us do.  Perhaps when you were young you idolized an actor, an athlete, or an astronaut, a policeman, a pilot, or a President, a soldier, a sailor, an airman, or a Marine.  Why did you hold them in such high esteem?  And why do you still, after all these years, have a hero that you admire?   

            Chances are you see something in their life that you wish you had more of in your own.  I’m not talking about their money.  I’m not talking about their fame.  I’m not talking about their popularity or any of their material possessions.  In fact, if that’s all they have to admire then they probably aren’t worthy of your admiration. 

No, I’m not talking about their money or their fame, their popularity or their possessions.  I’m talking about something more important.  I’m talking about certain character qualities that they possess—qualities you wish you had more of in your own life.  Qualities like honor, courage, and commitment.   Qualities like loyalty, duty, and service. 

When you see those qualities in their life then something stirs in your own heart.  What is it?  What is that mysterious something that stirs at the sight of someone living honorably and courageously with full commitment to some noble cause?  What is that strange and unnamed something in the human heart—in your own heart—that is roused at the sight of loyalty, duty , and service?

That strange and unnamed something is the heroic spirit in your own soul.  Something in you wants to rise to a new level of living—a higher and more noble level.  You want to live an honorable life.  You want to live with greater courage.  You want to find a cause worthy of your full commitment.  You want to be known for your loyalty.  You want to do your duty no matter what the cost.  You want to serve something higher than yourself.  You want to be a hero to your friends, your family, your neighbors, and your nation.

But how?  How can you cultivate the heroic spirit in your own soul?  It isn’t easy after all.  It’s hard to be a hero.  You have to swim against the current of your lesser inclinations.  You have to turn a deaf ear to the siren song of ease.  You have to say “NO!” to every voice that lures you toward a life of casual mediocrity.  And all of that takes energy and tremendous inspiration.  Hopefully you’ll find that inspiration in the pages that follow. 

In the following chapters you will find a series of stories that illustrate the heroic virtues.  Some come from everyday life.  Some come from the battlefield.  Some come from the Bible.  But all come with a single purpose.  They come to stir you, to move you, to inspire you.  They come to unleash the hidden hero in your soul.  For who knows?  Someday, maybe someday soon, on a crowded street, or in the heat of combat, or in the darkness of some lonely night, someone will need a hero and that hero will be you!  Will you be ready when they call?    

 

 

Questions for Reflection

 

1.    How would you define the word “hero?”

 

 

2.    Who are some of your heroes?  What do you admire about them?

 

 

3.  The author lists honor, courage, commitment, loyalty, duty, and service among the heroic virtues.  Do you agree?  Are there some you would delete from the list?  Are there others you might add?  Why?

 

 

4.  The author says, “Something in you wants to rise to a new level of living—a higher and more noble level.  You want to live an honorable life.  You want to live with greater courage.  You want to find a cause worthy of your full commitment.  You want to be known for your loyalty.  You want to do your duty no matter what the cost.  You want to serve something higher than yourself.  You want to be a hero to your friends, your family, your neighbors, and your nation.”  Is that true of you?  Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

 

5.  Do you agree that it’s hard to be a hero?  What are some of the things that keep you from living a more heroic life?

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Have you ever had to act in some heroic fashion?  Did you pass the test?  If so, how?  If not, why?

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

HONOR

 

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one; take honour from me and my life is done.

William Shakespeare, Richard II,I,i 1

 

 

            What is honor?  It isn’t always easy to define but all of us recognize it when we see it.  Honor refers to the possession of a good name or a good reputation.  And how does one get a good reputation?   You must earn it the old fashioned way by living an honorable life.  So an honorable person is one whose life is worthy of our highest respect and our deepest admiration. 

            Some years ago, when I graduated from high school, an older man took me aside and talked to me about the kind of man he hoped I would become.  When he finished, he handed me a poem by Rudyard Kipling.  Although the poem never mentions the word honor, I believe it describes the honorable life better than any other.  And every now and again I go back to it to remind myself of the importance of living an honorable life.

                                    If you can keep your head when all about you

                                        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

                                    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

                                       But make allowance for their doubting too;

                                    If you can wait and not be tired of waiting,

                                       Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

                                    Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

                                       And yet don’t look too good, nor talk to wise.

 

                                    If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

                                       If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

                                    If you can meet with triumph and disaster

                                       And treat those two imposters just the same;

                                    If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

                                       Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

                                    Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

                                       And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

 

                                    If you can make one heap of all your winnings

                                       And risk it on a turn of pitch-and-toss,

                                    And lose, and start again at your beginnings

                                       And never breathe a word about your loss;

                                    If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

                                       To serve your turn long after they are gone,

                                    And so hold on when there is nothing in you

                                       Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

 

                                    If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

                                       Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;

                                    If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

                                       If all men count with you, but none too much;

                                    If you can fill the unforgiving minute

                                       With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—

                                    Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

                                       And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! 2

 

            That’s honor and honor is first among the many heroic virtues.  So it should come as no surprise to find that all of our heroes demonstrate honor.  The challenge, then, is not in finding someone to illustrate the best qualities of honor but in choosing from among a vast multitude of honorable people who can teach us the meaning of honor and who can inspire us to live ever more honorably ourselves. 

But a choice must be made.  So in the following pages you will read about two men who illustrate honor.  One is a Sailor, the other a Soldier.  One is still living, the other long dead.  One “forced his heart and nerve and sinew to serve his turn long after they were done” while the other “walked with kings but never lost the common touch.”  One took his honor with him to a prison camp in North Vietnam.  When he was released after eight long years of imprisonment, his honor was still intact and he received a Medal of Honor in recognition of that fact.  The other individual lived honorably, fought honorably, died honorably, and took his honor with him to the grave.  Taken together, these men set an example of honor—an example that we should follow.   

 The Honor of a Mighty Man

            A long time ago there was a man named Uriah.  Uriah was a member of a Hittite tribe and was married to a beautiful wife named Bathsheba.  In addition, he was a soldier in the army of King David.  But more than this, he was one of David’s mighty men.  These men were the elite of David’s army.  They were called “The Thirty” and they were famous for their loyalty and their valor.

            One spring day David sent his army out to invade the neighboring nation of Ammon and Uriah was among those who went with them to the fight.  When they met, the Israelite army defeated the army of Ammon and laid siege to the Ammonite capital.  Along with the other Israelites, Uriah pitched his tent outside the city wall and settled in for a long siege.

            While Uriah was rendering honorable service in David’s army, David was whiling away the hours in the safety of Jerusalem.  Perhaps he had too much time on his hands—time to engage in mischief.  For one evening, as he walked on the flat roof of his luxurious palace, David saw a beautiful woman bathing in a nearby home.  The woman was Uriah’s wife and David wanted her for himself.  So he sent a messenger to fetch her and, when she arrived, he seduced her with his charm.  It might have ended there had Bathsheba not gotten pregnant as a consequence. 

            When David learned of her condition he realized that he needed to do something to cover his crime so he called Uriah from the battlefield under the reasonable expectation that Uriah would go home to sleep with his wife.  And if he did that then Uriah would probably believe the child was his own and he would never be the wiser.  But something happened to derail David’s plan.  When Uriah returned to Jerusalem he refused to see his wife.  David repeatedly tried to send Uriah to his home but every effort met with failure.  Finally, David asked Uriah why he wouldn’t go home to his wife and Uriah said, “Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields.  How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife?  As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 3

            As far as David was concerned, there was only one other alternative.  Uriah had to die so David could marry the beautiful Bathsheba.  So David drafted a message to Joab, his general in the field.  And in that message he said, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest.  Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 4  The next morning he sealed the message, gave it to Uriah and told him to deliver it to Joab.  Didn’t David run the risk of Uriah opening the message?  No.  David knew that Uriah was an honorable man.  He knew he could count on Uriah to obey the order of his king. 

            So Uriah did as David asked and delivered his own death warrant to Joab.  And not long afterwards, Joab put Uriah at the head of a futile attack—an attack that ended in his death.  When David heard about Uriah’s demise, he sent for Bathsheba and made her is own.  And so the matter ended.  The crime was covered.  And no one would ever know what had happened.  Right?  Wrong!  God saw it all.  And “the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” 5

            David and Uriah.  Two men.  One a king, the other a commoner.  But the commoner lived an honorable life while the king brought discredit to himself and his throne.  One died in honor, the other lived in shame.  On this particular occasion, pleasure was more important to David than was the maintenance of his honor.  For Uriah, on the other hand, his honor was his life.  Both grew as one.  You couldn’t separate the two.  How is it with you?  Do you prefer pleasure to honor or honor to life? 

The Real James Bond 6

            “I’ve had a crippled leg ever since I got shot down and then mauled by a mob in the street in North Vietnam.  I don’t need canes.  I just limp along.  I can’t raise my left arm above the shoulder.  I try to swim a mile two or three times a week in my own homemade stroke.  It’s a crippled man’s crawl, I guess you’d call it.  That’s how I stay healthy.” 7  Those are the words of retired Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale.  How did he get in such a condition? 

The story begins on a warm day in September of 1965.  The war was ragging in Vietnam and James Stockdale was playing his part as air wing commander onboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany.  On September 9, Stockdale was supposed to lead a strike package against a North Vietnamese bridge just west of Thanh Hoa but weather over the bridge forced him to attack a secondary target—a railroad siding between Thanh Hoa and Vinh.  After dropping his bomb his plane was hit by flak from a 57-millimeter anti-aircraft gun and he was forced to eject at low altitude.  When he landed he broke his leg and was immediately captured by the North Vietnamese.  He underwent three primitive operations to repair his leg and it would be several years before he could walk without pain.

As a Navy Commander, Stockdale was the most senior prisoner in the prison camp at Hoa Lo and was responsible for organizing prison resistance.  He also had to set the example for his men.  He had to show them how to resist without sacrificing their honor.  So Stockdale spent seven-and-a-half years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. 

And if that wasn’t bad enough, he was tortured a total of fifteen times.  The tortures were designed to get a confession that the North Vietnamese could then exploit.  They would torture him until he submitted and agreed to espouse anti-American propaganda in front of a crowd in Hanoi.  But Stockdale was never put on parade.  Before they could ever do so, he would disfigure himself in some way so that they, the North Vietnamese, couldn’t possible put him on display.  On one occasion he even beat himself in the face with a bucket until his eyes were swollen shut.

James Stockdale was released from captivity in February of 1973.  He came home to a waiting wife, four children who hardly knew him, and a grateful nation that owed him an enormous debt—a debt it recognized when it awarded him the Medal of Honor.  The following words appear in the citation to that award:  “Rear Adm. Stockdale resolved to make himself a symbol of resistance regardless of personal sacrifice.  He deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate…By his heroic action, at great peril to himself, he earned the everlasting gratitude of his fellow prisoners and of his

country.” 8  Indeed he did!  Well done Admiral.  Well done indeed!                

 

 

Questions for Reflection

 

1.  How would you define the word “honor?”

 

 

 

2.  Have you ever known an honorable person?  Who were they?  What were they like?  What did they do to demonstrate honor?

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Can you think of any famous historical figures known for their honor?  What can you learn from them?

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Reread Kipling’s poem on pages 4-5.  Does some part of it speak to you about your own life?  How?

 

 

 

 

 

5.  How do the lives of David and Uriah compare and contrast?  Have you known anyone like Uriah?  Have you known anyone like David?  How did you feel about them?  How do you want people to feel about you?   

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Uriah and Stockdale were honorable men but their honor did not protect them from harm.  In fact, in some ways, they brought harm to themselves by being honorable.  Is honor worth the price they paid?  How much are you willing to pay to “keep your honor clean?”

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

COURAGE

 

“They are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense of both the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger.”

Thucydides, Peloponnesian Wars 1

 

            Have you ever been afraid?  All of us have at one time or another.  Indeed, each of us has had to face that common kind of fear that comes bundled up in many of life’s ordinary events.  Can you remember, for example, the fear you felt on your first day of school, or on your first date, or when you took a new job, or when you went off to college, or when you left home for the first time to join the military?  How did you handle the anxiety?  How did you conquer your fear?  Chances are you drew upon some hidden reservoir of courage to see you through the fear you felt.  For courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the mastery of it.  By now you have probably mastered many a common fear through the exercise of human courage.

            Not all fears, of course, are common fears.  Some are more frightening than others.  The fear of pain.  The fear of loss.  The fear of death.  These are the big fears that haunt us and demand of us the greatest courage.  Most of us would do anything to avoid pain, loss, or death.  And in most instances we would be right in doing so.  There is no virtue in needless pain, no value in pointless loss, no merit in giving your life without a purpose or a cause.  But sometimes honor demands something better of us.  Sometimes we must run the risk of pain, or loss, or even death in order to “keep our honor clean.” 

            On May 19th, 1940, Sir Winston Churchill made his first broadcast as Prime Minister of England.  Even as he spoke, German armies were breaking through the French front and wreaking havoc in the Allied rear.  What message did he give his own beleaguered people?  He appealed to their sense of honor.  “The interests of property, the hours of labour, are nothing compared with the struggle of life and honour,” he said.  And then he finished with these stirring words:  “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar.” 2   Yes, some things are worth the risk of pain, or loss, or death.  Honor sees them.  Courage seizes them.

            In the following pages you will read about two people who risked much to do much.  One was a man, the other a woman.  One was a King, the other a Queen.  One is familiar, the other less so.  One is from our recent past; the other is from ancient history.  But both shared one thing in common—uncommon courage.  The world is a better place because of they were brave.  It would be better still if we were as brave as they.

A Queen Called Esther

            Have you ever watched a beauty pageant with beautiful women competing for a title and a crown?  Well something similar happened in the Persian Empire 2,500 years ago when King Xerxes of Persia deposed his queen and established a contest to find her replacement.  Beautiful women from every province were brought to the palace and placed in the care of the king’s harem master who oversaw their beauty treatment.  After a year of careful preparation, they were taken to the king and given a chance to earn the king’s affection.

Now Esther was one of the most beautiful women to be given this golden opportunity.  And it’s a miracle she got it at all.  You see Esther wasn’t of Persian blood.  She was born of humbler stock.  She was born of Jewish descent.  Her parents were prisoners in Persia but both died before she could marry so she was cared for by an uncle—a man named Mordecai.  And since she belonged to a captive race, Mordecai told her to conceal her identity from those who chose her to participate in the king’s contest.  She did as Mordecai directed and ultimately won Xerxes’ heart.  In fairytale fashion, Xerxes picked Esther over all the other beauties and she became his queen.  But that isn’t where the story ends.  Dark clouds were gathering on the horizon. 

You see the king had a servant named Haman.  Haman was the most powerful man in the king’s court and everyone bowed to him as a sign of their respect…everyone but Mordecai.  Because Mordecai was a Jew, he refused to bow before any mortal man.  In his opinion, only God deserved to be treated with such reverence and respect.  Obviously, he and Haman were on a collision course.

It came when Haman learned about Mordecai’s faith.  He was so enraged by Mordecai’s apparent lack of respect that he decided to kill Mordecai and exterminate Mordecai’s native race.  Through a slick political maneuver, Haman got the king’s permission to purge Persia of every Jew living in the kingdom.  Young and old, male and female, every Jew would die.

When Mordecai learned of Haman’s plot he sent a message to Esther urging Esther to intervene with the king.  But there was a problem.  The king didn’t know about Esther’s identity.  If she revealed her Jewish roots then she might be killed along with all the other Jews.  In addition, if she went to see the king without an invitation she ran an equal risk of execution since no one, not even the queen, could enter the king’s presence without a summons from the throne. 

Esther tried to explain this to Mordecai but Mordecai refused to listen.  “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape,” Mordecai replied.  “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” 3   Upon hearing this, Esther sent a message to Mordecai.  “I will go to the king,” she said, “even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish.” 4

“If I perish, I perish!”  It takes a lot of courage to say a thing like that.  It takes even more to act on it.  But that’s precisely what Esther did.  She went to the king without a summons.  The king received her and heard her petition.  And through her intervention she saved the Jewish race.  Think of it.  An entire population was spared extermination because one woman was willing to risk her life for theirs.  I wonder.  Are you being called to an act of courage?   What will your answer be?                               

A King Called Martin

            His name was Martin Luther King, Jr. and he was more than just a “King” in name.  He was real royalty.  He was a true king among men who challenged the foes of freedom and brought liberty to countless people in our great nation.  Born in a tragic time of racial prejudice, King rose to assume leadership of the civil rights movement.  When others were trumpeting revolution, King was preaching reconciliation.  When others turned to bloodshed, King turned to prayer and led his people in a non-violent movement that overwhelmed all opposition. 

            “To our most bitter opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering.  We shall meet your physical force with soul force.  Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.  Throw us in jail and we shall still love you.  Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you.  But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.  One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves.  We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process.” 5  That was his message and that was his method. 

From Montgomery, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee, King faced fierce opposition from the proponents of racial segregation.  He was stabbed, arrested, maligned, and imprisoned, but he stayed the course, kept the faith, and finished the task.  That task came to a close on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.  King was in Memphis to lead a march in support of the local sanitation workers.  There had already been threats on his life.  At 6:00 p.m., King was standing on the balcony of his hotel when a single shot was fired.  The bullet struck the right side of King’s face and drove his back against the wall.  He died shortly thereafter. 

King spoke to a crowd of nearly two thousand people the night before his assassination.  He recalled his life’s work and then said: “Like anybody I would like to live a long life.  Longevity has its place.  But I’m not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God’s will.  And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I’ve looked over.  And I’ve seen the Promised Land.  And I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.  So I’m happy tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.” 6

If we live in a Promised Land of freedom, justice, and equality, it’s largely due to the fearless labor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  And if we want our world to be more free and more just then we have to follow his example.  We have to rise above our own fears.  We have to give ourselves to a great cause.  And we have to tread the path of courage!

 

Questions for Reflection

 

1.  Have you ever been in a frightening situation?  What was it and how did you manage your fear?

 

 

 

 

 

2.  “Some things are worth the risk of pain, or loss, or death.  Honor sees them.  Courage seizes them.”  Do you agree or disagree?  Can you think of anything that’s worth the risk of pain, or loss, or death?  Are you willing to run that risk?  Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Many people were counting on Esther’s courage.  Without it, they would die.  Is anyone counting on your courage?  Who are they and  how are they dependent on you?  How does that make you feel?

 

 

 

 

 

  4.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was caught up in a great cause.  It was the cause of freedom, justice, and equality.  “I’ve seen the Promised Land.  And I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.  So I’m happy tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.”  How was King’s courage connected to King’s cause?  Is it easier to be courageous if you’re caught up in a great cause?  Are you caught up in a cause that’s worth living for?  Suffering for?  Dying for?  If not, do you think you’re living up to your fullest potential? 

 

 

 

 

5.  King said, fear “…is mastered through faith…All too many people attempt to face the tensions of life with inadequate spiritual resources.” 7  How can faith help you deal with fear?  Are there other spiritual resources that can help you live with less fear and greater courage?  What are they?

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

COMMITMENT

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.” Winston Churchill 1 

 

            The Chronicles of Narnia are a collection of books written by C. S. Lewis.  They tell the tale of Narnia, a magical land full of mythical creatures, human beings, dwarves, and talking beasts.  In the third book of the series, The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader,” a heroic band of sailors sets sail in a beautiful ship called the Dawn Treader on a long journey to discover Aslan’s country somewhere off at the end of the world.  After many adventures they come finally to an island located just short of their goal.  Weary from long days at sea and unsure about the location of their final destination, some want to abandon the quest and return to their hearths and homes.

            It’s a precarious moment.  They are in danger of giving in and giving up.  But just then, one of the crew steps forward and says, “Your Majesties and gentlemen and ladies all, there’s just one thing I want to say.  There’s not one of us chaps as was pressed on this journey. We’re volunteers.  And there’s some here…who were talking very loud about adventures on the day we sailed…and swearing they wouldn’t come home till we’d found the end of the world...I don’t know if you get the hang of what I’m saying.  But what I mean is that I think chaps that set out like us will look…silly…if we come home and say we got to the beginning of the World’s End and hadn’t the heart to go farther.” 2       

            Some are cheered by these words but most are unconvinced until they overhear Reepicheep, the talking mouse, declare his dedication.  “My own plans are made,” he says.  “While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader.  When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle.  When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws.  And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise…” 3 

Well it’s easy to begin a journey but it’s hard to see it through.  Perhaps you’ve experienced this in your own life.  You started something with a lot of enthusiasm but had trouble sticking to it until it was finally finished.  Maybe it was high school, or college, or a job, or a marriage.  You were excited to begin but didn’t stay with it.  And somehow you know now that you should have stuck to it.  What you needed then, and what you may need now, is a quality called commitment.

Commitment is the ability to stick to a task, to see it through to its completion.  Commitment never gives up and never gives in.  It never turns back until the journey is done.  Like Reepicheep, commitment doesn’t stop until it reaches its destination or until it goes under in the attempt. 

In the previous chapter we saw that some things are worth the risk of pain, or loss, or even death.  Honor sees them.  Courage seizes them.  And commitment sees them through.  In this chapter we will meet two men who lived lives of absolute commitment.  One built a wall.  The other fought a war.  The one wouldn’t leave the wall until the wall was finished.  The other wouldn’t leave the war until the war was won.  One lived to see his work through to its completion.  The other died long before his work was ever done.  But together they left a legacy of commitment that we would do well to imitate.                

Committed to the Task

            In 587 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured the city of Jerusalem, destroyed its Temple, tore down its walls, and deported many of its citizens.  The city remained a ruin until 539 B.C. when the Persians defeated the Babylonians and adopted a more conciliatory policy toward their Jewish captives.  In 538 B.C., fifty thousand Jews returned to Judah and began the work of reconstruction.  They and other settlers cleared away the rubble and rebuilt the holy Temple in the city of Jerusalem.  However, after nearly a century of resettlement, the walls of Jerusalem remained ruins making Jerusalem vulnerable to anyone who wished to conquer or oppress it. 4

            Nehemiah was a Jew serving in the Persian court of King Artaxerxes.  When he learned that the walls were still lying in ruins, he went to the king and begged permission to rebuild them.  The king granted his request and he set off for the sacred city intent on rebuilding the wall.  Three days after his arrival, Nehemiah surveyed the situation.  He rode around Jerusalem examining the wall. 

Reconstruction would be difficult.  It would require everyone’s involvement.  And it would be opposed at almost every turn by a coalition of enemies who didn’t want to see a resurgence of Jewish power.  Their names were Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab.  Each of them enjoyed a share of power in Palestine—a share that would only diminish if Jerusalem grew in power.

At first they mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah.  When that failed to dissuade him, they turned to intimidation.  They threatened to invade Jerusalem and destroy the wall.  But Nehemiah remained adamant.  He prayed, posted guards, and proceeded with the work of reconstruction. 

Seeing the failure of their efforts and the wall progressing toward completion, they turned to trickery and tried deceit in a vain attempt to capture Nehemiah.  They invited him to meet with them for discussion in a village on the plain of Ono where they hoped to do him harm.  But Nehemiah saw through their scheme and said, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” 5 

Finally, having tried everything else, they tried one last thing.  They hired a man named Shemaiah to frighten Nehemiah.  Shemaiah said to Nehemiah,  “‘Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you.” 6  Nehemiah looked Shemaiah in the eye and said, “Should a man like me run away?” 7

Nehemiah had a hard task.  He had to get the kings permission to rebuild the wall.  He had to gather materials for reconstruction.  He had to travel a vast distance from Persia to Jerusalem.  He had to rally the people.  He had to oversee the work and overcome the opposition.  It would have been easy to give in and give up.  It would have been easy for him to throw up his hands in despair and leave the work to others.  But Nehemiah saw it through to its completion. 

That’s dedication.  That’s commitment.  It’s the key to success in any endeavor and an essential aspect of everyday heroism.  So the next time you feel like giving up, just remember Nehemiah and say to yourself, “I’m doing a great work and I’ll not back down!” 

Committed to the End 8

            The fine citizens of Montgomery, Alabama wanted to show support for Maxwell Air Force Base which is near their city so they went to the base commander, General Chuck Boyd, and offered to build an air park somewhere on the airbase.  General Boyd appreciated their offer but suggested they erect a statue of some great airman instead.  The mayor agreed and asked General Boyd to select a subject for the statue.  Of course, General Boyd could have chosen Billy Mitchell, or Claire Chennault, or Hap Arnold, or Curtis Lemay, all of whom are legendary figures in aviation history.  But instead, he chose Lieutenant Carl Richter to represent the best of the best in the Air Force.

            Lieutenant Carl Richter graduated from the Air Force in 1964, went to flight school, and then deployed to Vietnam in 1966.  Carl flew the F-105, a fighter bomber attached to the 338th Air Wing when the 338th was flying downtown to Hanoi.  Those were difficult days for the Air Force.  They were losing a lot of planes over Vietnam.  Only forty-three percent of their pilots successfully completed one hundred missions and qualified for rotation to the U.S.  Carl was among them but he refused to rotate.  Instead, he volunteered to stay on in Vietnam which meant flying another hundred hazardous missions.  Why?  Because he wanted to teach other pilots how to survive the deadly skies of North Vietnam.

            Richter completed his second tour and volunteered for a third but this time the leadership sent him south to fly less dangerous missions.  Unfortunately, he never made it.  Just before his transfer, he flew a mission with a new pilot.  They were supposed to bomb a heavily defended bridge.  Carl told the new pilot to fly high while he made the first pass.  It was his last flight.  Antiaircraft fire crippled his airplane forcing him to eject.  He was alive when the rescue helicopter arrived on the scene but died before they could get him to the hospital.

            Carl Richter’s statue bears an inscription from the prophet Isaiah:  “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Here I am, send me.”  That was the way he lived.  That was the way he died.  That was the way of commitment!  He could have gone home on two separate occasions but he was committed to his country and his comrades so he stayed in Vietnam.  Was he a fool to do so or was he a hero?  Remember, some things are worth the risk of pain, or loss, or even death.  Honor sees them.  Courage seizes them.  And commitment sees them through!                     

 

Questions for Reflection

1.  “There’s not one of us chaps as was pressed on this journey. We’re volunteers… I think chaps that set out like us will look…silly…if we come home and say we got to the beginning of the World’s End and hadn’t the heart to go farther.”  Have you ever seen someone give up on something of great importance?  Did you think they were silly to do so?  Why?

 

 

 

 

 

2.  “Well it’s easy to begin a journey but it’s hard to see it through.  Perhaps you’ve experienced this in your own life.  You started something with a lot of enthusiasm but had trouble sticking to it until it was finally finished.  Maybe it was high school, or college, or a job, or a marriage.  You were excited to begin but didn’t stay with it.  And somehow you know now that you should have stuck to it.”  Have you ever given up on something of great importance?  What was it?  How has your life been different as a consequence? 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  “Nehemiah had a hard task.  He had to get the kings permission to rebuild the wall.  He had to gather materials for reconstruction.  He had to travel a vast distance from Persia to Jerusalem.  He had to rally the people.  He had to oversee the work and overcome the  opposition.  It would have been easy to give in and give up.”  What are some of the factors or forces that tempt you to give in or give up?  What keeps you going?

 

 

 

 

 

4.  “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”  How would your life be different if you were to live by that advice? 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  “Carl Richter’s statue bears an inscription from the prophet Isaiah:  ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Here I am, send me.’”  Is there some important task that needs your commitment?  What is it?  How will you respond to its call? 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

DUTY: EXCELLENCE IN ALL THINGS

 

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” 1

 

            The movie MacArthur begins with General Douglas MacArthur, portrayed by Gregory Peck, addressing a class of cadets at West Point.  “Duty, Honor, Country: those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be.  They are your rallying points…From your ranks come the great captains who will hold the nation’s destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.  The Long Gray Line has never failed us.  Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country!” 2  

            “Duty…reverently dictate(s) what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be.”  Unfortunately, duty has gotten a bad rap in our modern world.  It carries with it a sense of obligation that many in our free flowing society find both objectionable and oppressive.  We would prefer to focus attention on our rights and privileges than on our duties and our responsibilities.  But no society can remain strong and stable if its people refuse to do their duties. 

Likewise, no single individual can hope to attain any measure of greatness unless he or she is willing to answer duty’s call.  For you see, duty is more than the mere performance of some minimal requirement.  Duty is doing what you should, when you should, and to the very best you can.  It takes a heroic spirit to live like that but the payoff is substantial.  If you do your duty then you’ll make a difference, you’ll stand out from the crowd, and you’ll find numerous opportunities for advancement. 

In the following pages you will read about two men who did their duty.  One did his duty in slavery and in prison.  The other did his duty on the battlefield of Vietnam.  The duty of the first was rewarded with promotion.  The duty of the second earned him our nation’s highest honor.  Both left us an example worthy of imitation.  The world is waiting for people like them—people who know their duty—people who do their duty.  Will you be one of them?

Duty in Difficult Days

            It isn’t always easy to do your duty.  In fact, duty shines the brightest against the black backdrop of tremendous difficulty.  Just ask Joseph!  He did his duty under some of the most difficult of circumstances.

            Jacob was one of ancient Israel’s greatest patriarchs.  Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son.  Unfortunately, Jacob’s favoritism earned Joseph the envy of his brothers.  In fact, their envy was so intense that they sold Joseph into slavery and then covered their crime by lying to Jacob.  They told him that Joseph had been killed by wild animals somewhere in the rugged Judean wilderness.

            Meanwhile, slave traders carried Joseph to Egypt where they sold him to a prominent Egyptian named Potiphar.  There, in Potiphar’s house, Joseph did his duty, his whole duty, to the best of his ability and was rewarded as a consequence.  Potiphar made Joseph the manager of his household.  “Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned…with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” 3

            Unfortunately, Joseph not only attracted Potiphar’s attention, he also attracted the attention of Potiphar’s wife.  Drawn to his good looks and impressive physique, Potiphar’s wife tried desperately to seduce him.  Joseph, however, refused her seduction.  He knew it would be a dishonorable violation of his duty to accept her advances.  “‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.  No one is greater in this house than I am.  My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.   How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’” 4       

            Not everyone will appreciate you when you do your duty.  Such was the case with Joseph—at least in this one instance.  Angered by Joseph’s rejection, Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of sexual misconduct and Potiphar had Joseph thrown into the king’s prison.  But even there, Joseph did his duty.  That’s what duty does.  It does what it should, when it should, and to the best of its ability, even when doing so brings personal hardship. 

Nevertheless, in the long run, duty is usually rewarded.  It was in this case.  After observing Joseph’s dutiful behavior, the warden put Joseph in charge of the entire prison and entrusted its overall management to Joseph’s dependable care.  That was the first step toward Joseph’s ultimate promotion.  After several years of faithful duty in difficult days, a series of miraculous events led Joseph from the king’s prison to the king’s palace where he became Pharaoh’s right-hand man.  And from that exalted position he managed Egypt’s economy during a severe famine saving millions of Egyptians and all of his own people.  It is one of the most remarkable stories from antiquity.  And at its base it is a story about one man who did his duty in difficult days saving a multitude by his efforts.

The fate of millions probably doesn’t depend on you and the performance of your duty, but someone, somewhere, is depending on you to do what you should, when you should, and to the very best you can.  Are you doing your duty?

If Not You, Who? 5

            Jack Jacobs is the only living Jewish recipient of the Medal of Honor.  Only 5’ 4” tall, Jack had to request a height waiver to get his commission as an officer in the United States Army.  He went to Vietnam in March of 1967 where he was assigned as an advisor to serve alongside a battalion from the Ninth Division of the South Vietnamese Infantry.  Fortunately, he was not alone.  Staff Sergeant Romero Garcia Ramirez was also assigned to the battalion.  They would need one another in the coming days.

            On March 9, 1968, Jacobs’ unit got ambushed in the Mekong Delta.  Almost immediately Jacobs and Ramirez were wounded.  Jacobs received a shrapnel wound to the head while Ramirez suffered three sucking chest wounds.  Despite his own wounds, Jacobs went to Ramirez relief.  He patched his wounds and got him to the cover of a nearby tree line.  He then went to the aid of another injured officer.  After this, Jacobs led a small relief party on several forays through heavy fire to rescue other wounded soldiers.  In the end, Jack Jacobs saved the lives of fourteen wounded men—men who would have died without his courageous intervention.

            What kept him at it despite the danger and despite the fact that he was among the severely wounded?  Just ask Jack Jacobs and he’ll tell you that it all came down to duty.  “You do what you have to do,” he’ll say and then he’ll quote a Jewish story that illustrates the point.  It’s the story of a rich man who went to Rabbi Hillel with a very serious problem.  It seems he had given generously to help his poor neighbors but they were still in need and still wanted more.  “What am I to do?” he asked Rabbi Hillel.  The old Rabbi looked at the troubled man and answered his question with another.  “If not you, who?” Hillel asked. 6 

That was the question that haunted Jack Jacobs during that firefight in South Vietnam.  “To the extent I thought about anything during the action that’s what I thought about,” Jacobs says.  “I mean, if I was not going to do it, who was?” 7  That was the voice of duty.  Jacobs heard it and responded.  Fourteen men are alive today because he did.  There are probably at least fourteen people who are depending on you to do your duty.  They are counting on you to do what you should, when you should, and to the very best you can.  Will duty find anyone at home when she dials your number?

 

 

Questions for Reflection

1.  “Duty is doing what you should, when you should, and to the very best you can.”  Do you agree with that definition of duty?  How else might you define it? 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  “Duty…reverently dictate(s) what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be.”  Has duty ever been your guide?  How so?

 

 

 

 

 

3.  “Duty has gotten a bad rap in our modern world.  It carries with it a sense of obligation that many in our free flowing society find both objectionable and oppressive.  We would prefer to focus attention on our rights and privileges than on our duties and our responsibilities.  But no society can remain strong and stable if its people refuse to do their duties.”  Do you agree or disagree?  Can you give any examples of how our society has suffered due to our neglect of duty? 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  “It isn’t always easy to do your duty.  In fact, duty shines the brightest against the black backdrop of tremendous difficulty.”  Can you recall an occasion when you performed your duty against the black backdrop of tremendous difficulty?  Can you describe the occasion and what you did?

 

 

 

 

 

5.  “There are probably at least fourteen people who are depending on you to do your duty.  They are counting on you to do what you should, when you should, and to the very best you can.  Will duty find anyone at home when she dials your number?”  Make a list of the people who depend on you to do your duty.  What duty do you owe them?  What would happen to them if you didn’t do your duty? 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

LOYALTY

 

“Loyalty is the holiest good in the human heart.”

Seneca, Ad Lucilium, Epistle 88 1

 

            Henry V of England laid claim to the French throne and invaded France to seize it.  Unfortunately for Henry and his army, Henry bit off more than he could chew.  Vastly outnumbered by the French, Henry led his disease ridden troops toward the port of Calais where he hoped to embark and return with them to England.  But before he got there he was intercepted at Agincourt by a French army four times the size of his own.  In addition to being heavily outnumbered, Henry’s army was also outgunned.  While the French force was composed of infantry and armored cavalry, Henry’s own army was mostly made up of lightly armed archers.  The situation was so desperate that Henry asked for a truce but the French, sensing victory, refused his request.  And so the Battle of Agincourt occurred on October 25, 1415.

            William Shakespeare describes the scene in his immortal work, Henry V.  The night before the battle, Henry speaks to his men.  It is the feast of Saint Crispin and Henry says:

[H]e which hath no stomach to this fight,

                                    Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

                                    And crowns for convoy put into his purse:

                                    We would not die in that man’s company,

                                    That fears his fellowship to die with us.

                                    This day is call’d—the feast of Crispian:

                                    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

                                    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

                                    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

                                    He that outlives this day, and sees old age,

                                    Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends,

                                    And say, To-morrow is saint Crispian:

                                    Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars,

                                    And say, These wounds I had on Crispin’s day…

                                    This story shall the good man teach his son;

                                    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by

                                    From this day to the ending of the world,

                                    But we in it shall be remembered,--

                                    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

                                    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me,

                                    Shall be my brother…2

 

            The following day the two armies met on a rain soaked battlefield and the British won a stunning victory!  And from that day to this, those brave soldiers have been remembered as the “few, the happy few, the band of brothers.”

            None of us can win in life without the aid of others.  We need friends and they need us.  We can do far more together than we could otherwise do if left solely on our own.  But friendship demands a certain quality called loyalty—a sacrificial commitment to a band of brothers or a circle of sisters—a selfless dedication to serve those who depend on us.  In an age of shallow relationships and equally shallow commitments, loyalty stands out as a truly heroic virtue. 

            In the following pages you will meet two men who demonstrated remarkable loyalty.  One was a foreigner who found a friend and stuck with him to the end.  The other was a white pilot who risked his life to save a black comrade during a period of prejudice and racial bias in the history of our nation.  Together they paint a picture of true loyalty and point us further down the pathway toward genuine heroism.

 

Loyalty from a Stranger

            Earlier we met King David and witnessed the saddest episode in his otherwise honorable life.  We saw how he betrayed the loyalty of Uriah, committed adultery with Bathsheba, then had Uriah killed so he could cover his crime and make Bathsheba his wife.  It was not a good way to start a family and it was the start of many family sorrows.  Those sorrows culminated several years later when David’s son, Absalom, rebelled against him.

            Absalom was a violent and treacherous man.  When his half-brother Amnon raped his sister Tamar, Absalom plotted revenge for two years and then murdered his brother at a banquet.  Fearing his father’s wrath, Absalom fled Jerusalem and went into exile where he remained for three years.  At the end of that time, David sent for his son and brought him back to Jerusalem but refused to meet him in person.  Another two years had to elapse before the two of them met face to face but by then it was too late.  A gap—an unbridgeable chasm of hatred—had grown up in Absalom’s heart.

            Sometime after Absalom returned to Jerusalem, he began to plan a coup d’etat.  Courting the people, he stole their affections, and then had himself declared King in David’s place.  When David learned of Absalom’s action he was overcome with fear and fled for his life along with all who remained loyal to him.  Among them was a man named Ittai the Gittite. 

            Ittai was a foreigner—a Philistine living among the Jews.  He was also commander of six hundred men.  As David led his little band of brothers in their escape from Jerusalem, along came Ittai at the head of his troop.  “The king said to Ittai the Gittite, ‘Why should you come along with us?  Go back and stay with King Absalom.  You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland.  You came to us only yesterday.  And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going?  Go back and take your countrymen.  May kindness and faithfulness be with you.’” 3

So David released Ittai from any obligation he might feel toward David.  After all, he had only recently come into David’s service.  But Ittai was a man of tremendous loyalty.  So “…Ittai replied to the king, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.’” 4 

Wow!  What a man!  And what an amazing illustration of loyalty!  David recognized it immediately and realized he had a loyal friend in Ittai.  So “David said to Ittai, ‘Go ahead, march on.’  So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.” 5  He marched on with David until David regained his throne.  Are you marching with anyone in their hour of need?  Is anyone marching with you?

Loyalty Knows No Color! 6

            There was a time when blacks were treated as second class citizens in our country.  That practice may still prevail in some segments of our nation but the military is not one of them.  Long before blacks were treated as equals in our larger society, the United States military recognized their equality and became an integrated organization.  But even then, the transition wasn’t always easy.  The government could order integration but it couldn’t eliminate racial prejudice by decree.  That would take time. 

            Jesse Leroy Brown was the first black naval aviator.  His wingman was a white pilot named Thomas Hudner.  In the summer of 1950 they were serving together aboard USS Leyte, an aircraft carrier on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea, when they got word regarding the North Korean invasion of South Korea.  At first they thought they were too far away to take part in the conflict but that idea didn’t last for long.  Within days they were steaming toward the Korean peninsula and by early October they were on station and flying combat missions against the People’s Army of North Korea. 

            On December 4, 1950, Jesse and Thomas were flying over hostile territory when Jesse’s plane got hit by enemy ground fire and went down hard in mountainous terrain.  The force of the impact was such that Thomas thought Jesse was dead until he saw Jesse waving from his badly battered cockpit. 

One of the other pilots in the formation radioed for a rescue chopper while Thomas circled overhead.  As he did so he noticed smoke coming from the cowling of Jesse’s plane and realized that a fire might trap Jesse in the cockpit.  Surveying the situation, he came to a quick decision.  He decided to land his own plane on the mountainous slope near Jesse’s so he could pull Jesse from the smoking wreckage and render him assistance while waiting for the arrival of the helicopter.

Thomas hit the slope hard.  His plane skidded to a stop not too far from Jesse’s.  He jumped down from his plane, wadded through snow a foot-and-a-half deep, and scrambled up the side of Jesse’s aircraft.  Jesse was conscious when Thomas arrived but he was fading in and out and his leg was pinned fast so Thomas couldn’t free him.  Nevertheless, Thomas did the best he could.  He put a wool watch cap on Jesse’s head and wrapped his cold hands in a silk scarf.  With smoke still coming from the cowling, Thomas threw snow on it to prevent the spread of fire while he waited for the arrival of the rescue chopper.  The helicopter arrived after awhile but despite everyone’s efforts, they just couldn’t free Jesse.  He died on the slope that day but not because his friends didn’t try. 

Why did Thomas risk his own life in an effort to save Jesse’s?  According to Thomas, “It’s an attitude that is latent for the most part in normal life but comes out when you are suddenly confronted with life or death in a situation like that.  And I don’t think a lot of kids recognize the love one person can have for another that sometimes comes out only in time of war.” 7 Indeed, loyalty is love laying down life in the service of another.  Do you love anyone like that?       

 

 

Questions for Reflection

 

1.  Loyalty is “a sacrificial commitment to a band of brothers or a circle of sisters—a selfless dedication to serve those who depend on us.”  Is that a good definition of loyalty?  Are there other aspects of loyalty that aren’t mentioned in that definition?

 

 

 

 

 

2.  “We need friends and they need us.  We can do far more together than we could otherwise do if left solely on our own.”  Make a list of the people who helped you get to where you are today.  What did they do?  Did they have to make any personal sacrifices to help you along the way?

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Ittai the Gittite was a foreigner—a Philistine living among the Jews.  And yet, he was loyal to David.  He said, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”  Have you ever received the gift of loyalty from an unexpected source?  Who was it and how did their loyalty affect your life?

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Loyalty knows no color!  How is racial prejudice an enemy of loyalty?  Have you ever been the victim of prejudice?  It’s perpetrator?  What can you do to rid yourself and your environment of racial prejudice?

 

 

 

 

 

5.  “‘I don’t think a lot of kids recognize the love one person can have for another that sometimes comes out only in time of war.’  Indeed, loyalty is love laying down life in the service of another.  Do you love anyone like that?”  Who are they and why do you feel such loyalty toward them?

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

SELFLESS SERVICE

 

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus of Nazareth 1

 

            Selfishness is common in our society.  Far too many people are like the lunatics in Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt, where the superintendent of the insane asylum describes the inmates saying, “It’s here, sir that one is oneself with a vengeance; oneself, and nothing whatever besides.  We go, full sail, as our very selves.  Each one shuts himself up in the barrel of self…No one has tears for the other’s woes; no one has mind for the other’s ideas.  We’re our very selves, both in thought and tone, ourselves to the spring-boards uttermost verge.” 2  Have you ever known anyone like that?  Have you ever been like that yourself?

Well, selfishness may be epidemic but it certainly isn’t heroic.  True heroism always leads to selfless service.  If you live by the heroic virtues then you will ultimately, and quite naturally, live a life of selfless service.   How could it be otherwise?

            You see, honor understands that many things are of greater value than selfish interests.  Loyalty recognizes that the needs of others often transcend our own.  Courage pursues those things and those needs even in the face of personal fear.  Commitment keeps at it until the task is done.  And duty ensures that it gives its best effort in the attempt.

            In the following pages you will meet two men who gave their all but didn’t count the cost, who fought but didn’t heed their wounds, who toiled but didn’t ask for rest, who labored wanting no reward except the satisfaction of their service. 3  

From Arizona to Afghanistan

            Pat Tillman played football for Arizona State University…but just barely.  He went there in 1994 on the last football scholarship they awarded that year and started out sitting the bench.  But he didn’t sit the bench forever.  Three-and-a-half years later he left Arizona State as the Pac-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year. 4

Pat went on from college to play professional football for the Arizona Cardinals…but again just barely.  The Cardinals didn’t pick Pat until the 226th pick of the 1998 draft, just 15 picks short of the final draft selection.  But again, Pat surprised everyone with his hard work ethic and enormous talent.  In 2000 he set a club record for tackles and attracted the attention of the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams who offered him $9 million to take a five year contract.  Tillman turned it down due to his loyalty for the Cardinals. 5

Then came the tragedy of 9/11.  The day after those terrible terror attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, Tillman was interviewed by NBC news.  “My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor,” he said, “and a lot of my family has…gone and fought in wars, and I really haven’t done a…thing as far as laying myself on the line like that.” 6 Shortly thereafter, Tillman turned down a lucrative three year, $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals and left the NFL to join the army. 

When Tillman completed Ranger training he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.  Not long afterward he deployed with his unit to Afghanistan in support of ongoing operations against remnants of the Taliban and the same al-Qaida terrorists who plotted the 9/11 bombings.  It was there, in Afghanistan, that Pat’s unit participated in Operation Mountain Storm and came under sustained fire from hostile forces.  And it was there, half a world away from the football field in Arizona, that Pat Tillman met his fate.  Maneuvering alongside friendly Afghan forces, Tillman was cut down by enemy fire.  On the night of April 22, 2004, America lost a hero but she gained a guiding light!

What makes a man turn his back on fame and fortune to serve his country in the hostile expanse of a distant land?  The answer lies in the question.  And the answer is Service!  “‘Pat knew his purpose in life,’ said Dave McGinnis, Tillman’s former coach with the Cardinals.  ‘He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling.’” 7  Yes, Pat had a greater calling than football.  It was a call to selfless service.  He heard the call and answered it with little hesitation.  No one made him do it.  He just did.  That’s what made him a hero!

I understand the Cardinals will retire Tillman’s jersey, No. 40, and Arizona State will retire No. 42, in memory of a great man who loved service more than silver and freedom more than football. 8  Well they may be able to retire his numbers but they’ll never be able to extinguish his memory.  You see, some things just never die!

From Glory to Golgotha

            The world is divided in its opinion of Jesus Christ.  Over two billion of the world’s peoples believe he is the Son of God in human flesh, the Savior of the world.  Even those denying his true divinity nevertheless acknowledge his remarkable humanity and accord him respect as one of the world’s great teachers.  But greater even than the quality of his instruction is the content of his character.  For in his birth, his life, his death, Jesus was and is a peerless example of selfless service.

            According to Christian tradition, Jesus’ life of selfless service began with his birth at Bethlehem.  There, surrounded by animals in a filth-filled stable, Jesus exchanged heaven’s glory for a squalid manger—his celestial nature for a simple body.  In doing so, he willingly subjected himself to the suffering that is inherently part of our human condition. 

Surrendering the prerogative of heaven, he came among us as a selfless servant to demonstrate his love.  He, who knew nothing of pain in the painless state of glory, felt the pain of childbirth.  He, who was himself the very light of heaven, squinted in the torchlight of his manger home.  He, who knew nothing of hunger in paradise, cried out in hunger to drink his mother’s milk.  He, who knew nothing of fatigue in heaven, the eternal realm of energy and vigor, lay finally and fully exhausted in the comfort of his mother’s arms. 9 

And the pattern Jesus set in his birth, he continued to demonstrate throughout his life.  He always denied himself to serve others.  On many occasions he found the crowd so demanding that he often had no time to himself.  And even when he tried to get away with his disciples for a quiet time of rest, the crowd would follow and make demands on him.  Nevertheless, despite his own weariness or fatigue, he never sent the crowd away without first caring for their needs. 11  He summarized his whole philosophy in one short sentence: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 12 

Jesus not only lived by that philosophy.  He died by that philosophy.  The Christian community believes Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice to secure salvation for all who believe. 13 Whether or not you believe that for yourself is up to you to decide.  You are free to do so.  But surely you must be moved by Jesus’ example of selfless and self-sacrificing service.  Calling himself the Son of Man, Jesus said, “…even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 14  We all know what a ransom is.  It’s a price paid to secure a captive’s freedom.  Jesus believed his death would free us from spiritual bondage and give us free access both to a better life on earth and eternal life in heaven. 15  Because he believed that, he died for us on a hill called Golgotha just outside of Jerusalem. 16

But not even death could put an end to Jesus life of selfless service.  Christians believe Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven where he continues to serve as our friend, our advocate, and our partner in prayer. 17  “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” 18

Again, the world is divided on what it believes about Jesus Christ.  Christians believe he is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  Others believe he was a great teacher whose life is shrouded in Christian myth.  If it is a myth, it’s the most marvelous myth I know!  Nevertheless, be that as it may, you are free to decide for yourself what you believe about Jesus Christ.  But in the end I think all of us can agree that he lived a remarkable life, a life of selfless service, and set a great example for us all!

 

Questions for Reflection

1.  “Selfishness is common in our society.  Far too many people are like the lunatics in Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt, where the superintendent of the insane asylum describes the inmates saying, ‘It’s here, sir that one is oneself with a vengeance; oneself, and nothing whatever besides.  We go, full sail, as our very selves.  Each one shuts himself up in the barrel of self…No one has tears for the other’s woes; no one has mind for the other’s ideas.  We’re our very selves, both in thought and tone, ourselves to the spring-boards uttermost verge.’  Have you ever known anyone like that?  Have you ever been like that yourself?”

 

 

 

 

2.  “If you live by the heroic virtues then you will ultimately, and quite naturally, live a life of selfless service.”  Do you agree or disagree?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

3.  “What makes a man turn his back on fame and fortune to serve his country in the hostile expanse of a distant land?  The answer lies in the question.  And the answer is Service!”  Have you ever known anyone who sacrificed a great deal in order to serve others?  Who were they?  What did they do?  What impact did they have on you?

 

 

 

 

4.  “The world is divided on what it believes about Jesus Christ.  Christians believe he is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  Others believe he was a great teacher whose life is shrouded in Christian myth.  If it is a myth, it’s the most marvelous myth I know!  Nevertheless, be that as it may, you are free to decide for yourself what you believe about Jesus Christ.  But in the end I think all of us can agree that he lived a remarkable life, a life of selfless service, and set a great example for us all!”  What can you learned from Jesus?  How has he impacted your life?  How could he impact it?

 

 

 

 

5.  “I understand the Cardinals will retire Tillman’s jersey, No. 40, and Arizona State will retire No. 42, in memory of a great man who loved service more than silver and freedom more than football.  Well they may be able to retire his numbers but they’ll never be able to extinguish his memory.  You see, some things just never die!”  How do you hope to be remembered?  Based on how you are currently living, how do you think you will actually be remembered?

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

 

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.”

Jesus of Nazareth 1

 

            When it comes to heroism, the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.  The good person brings good things out of the good that he or she stored up in the heart.  I came to understand this during a year of study at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.  While my colleagues studied combat, I studied the individual combatant.  While they explored the battlefield, I explored the human heart and studied the inner issues of morale.  In the process I learned that the human heart is the most important factor in determining military success. 

I learned this lesson best from a French Colonel named Charles Jean Jacques Joseph Ardant du Picq.  Writing in an era when technology was beginning to exert a profound impact on the conduct of combat, du Picq said, “The art of war is subjected to many modifications by industrial and scientific progress.  But one thing does not change, the heart of man.  In the last analysis, success in battle is a matter of morale.  In all matters which pertain to an army, organization, discipline and tactics, the human heart in the supreme moment of battle is the basic factor.” 2   

            What is true of combat is true also of any other kind of crisis.  In the final analysis, success in any struggle is a matter of morale and the human heart in the supreme moment of that struggle is the most basic factor determining its outcome.  For in the hour of crisis, the good person brings good things out of the good that he or she has stored up in the heart.  The pressure just pushes the honor, the courage, the commitment, the duty, the loyalty, and the selfless nature to the surface for all to see. 

But all of those qualities have to be there to begin with.  You can’t wait until the last minute to get them.  No, if you want to have a heroic heart then you have to fill your heart with heroism in the easy hours of life.  Don’t wait until the day of difficulty comes. 

So where can you get a heroic heart?  You get if from God through spiritual means.  Worship, study, prayer, fasting, sacramental observances, and faith-filled fellowship, all have a long and proven history of generating heroism and strengthening morale.    Studies of human behavior under the most severe of all crises, the crisis of combat, tend to confirm this assertion. 

In Combat Motivation: The Behavior of Soldiers in Battle, Anthony Kellett cites a study from the Vietnam War that identified religious belief as an effective mechanism for managing combat stress. 3  In another place he cites survey data from World War II indicating “…that prayer was regarded by combat-experienced enlisted men as a very important source of support.  In both Italy and the Pacific, at different times, prayer generally ranked higher in helping a man adjust to combat than did the other personal philosophies listed in the questionnaires.” 4  Worship was also found to strengthen prisoners’ morale.  Along this line, Dale Herspring calls attention to the fact that the Japanese frequently limited worship among prisoners because they believed it would strengthen their will to resist. 5

Some of us may get by without the aid of spiritual resources but most of us would do better if we took the time to cultivate a living relationship with God and took the time to practice a few spiritual disciplines.  Just look at the heroes we highlighted in this study.  Uriah the Hittite and Ittai the Gittite both forsook their own people and identified themselves with the people of God.  Uriah may have gone so far as to adopt a new name for himself to indicate his new commitment.  The name Uriah is not a Hittite name.  It is of Jewish origin and is built on the Hebrew name for God.  It means “God is my light.” 6 His name reminds me of what is said in Psalm 27:1-3:  “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?  When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.  Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.” 7

Then there was Joseph.  He was a man of deep spiritual commitment.  He wouldn’t do anything that might cause him to sin against God but was willing to endure hardship rather than bring shame to himself or embarrassment to his faith.  And what about Esther and Nehemiah?  Although they lived in a foreign land, they never forsook their faith.  In a time of crisis they turned to prayer and found the courage to carry on!   

And then there is Jesus.  The night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.   “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.  On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’  He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” 8   Strengthened through prayer, Jesus went forth to face the bitter cruelty of the cross. 

In every instance, through faith, prayer, and other spiritual means, these worthy people found wonderful power and strength sufficient for heroic living.  The same power is available to each of us.  God says, “…do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 9

The world desperately needs people to soar above the usual level of human existence—people who embody the best of the heroic virtues.  Are you one of them?  If not, why not?  And why not become one today!   

 

 

Questions for Reflection

 

1.  “The art of war is subjected to many modifications by industrial and scientific progress.  But one thing does not change, the heart of man.  In the last analysis, success in battle is a matter of morale.  In all matters which pertain to an army, organization, discipline and tactics, the human heart in the supreme moment of battle is the basic factor.”  Do you believe that the human heart the most important thing in determining victory in any kind of contest?  Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

2.  “For in the hour of crisis, the good man brings good things out of the good he as stored in his heart.  The pressure just pushes his honor, his courage, his commitment, his duty, his loyalty, and his selfless nature to the surface for all to see.”  Have you seen an occasion when pressure brought out the best in a person?  Have you ever seen an instance when it did the opposite and brought out the worst?  What do you think explains the difference? 

 

 

 

 

3.  “If you want to have a heroic heart then you have to fill your heart with heroism in the easy hours of life.  Don’t wait until the day of difficulty comes.”  Does that make sense?  How are you filling your heart with heroism?  How might you be draining the heroism from it?

 

 

 

 

4.  “So how do you get a heroic heart?  You get if from God through spiritual means.  Worship, study, prayer, fasting, sacramental observances, and faith-filled fellowship, all have a long and proven history of generating heroism and strengthening morale.”  Have you ever practiced any of these spiritual disciplines?  How have they effected your life?        

 

 

 

 

 

5.  “God says, ‘…do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’”  Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  What do you think that means?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES

 

Introduction

 

1.      Trevor Royle, comp., A Dictionary of Military Quotations, (New York, New

York: Academic Reference Division, Simon & Schuster, 1989), 138.

 

Chapter One

 

1.      Trevor Royle, comp., A Dictionary of Military Quotations, (New York, New

York: Academic Reference Division, Simon & Schuster, 1989), 151.

 

            2.  Rudyard Kipling, “If—,” in The Best Loved Poems of the American People, comp. Hazel Felleman (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1936), 65-66.

 

3.      2 Sam. 11:11 NIV (New International Version).

 

4.      2 Sam. 11:15 NIV (New International Version).

 

5.      2 Sam. 11:27 NIV (New International Version).

 

6.      Larry Smith, Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words,

(New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 350-63.

 

7.  James Bond Stockdale, interviewed by Larry Smith in Beyond Glory: Medal of

 Honor Heroes in Their Own Words, (New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 351.

 

            8.  Ibid., 403.

 

Chapter Two

 

1.      Trevor Royle, comp., A Dictionary of Military Quotations, (New York, New

York: Academic Reference Division, Simon & Schuster, 1989), 142.

 

            2.  Winston S. Churchill, “Arm Yourselves, and be Ye Men of Valour,” in Never Give In!  The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, ed. by his grandson, Winston S. Churchill (New York, New York: Hyperion, 2003), 209.

 

            3.  Esther 4:13-14 NIV (New International Version).

 

            4.  Esther 4:16 NIV (New International Version).

 

            5.  Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, First Fortress Press ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), 54-55.

 

            6.  Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mentor ed. (New York, New York: New American Library, 1985), 467.

 

            7.  King, 122.

 

Chapter Three

 

            1.  Winston S. Churchill, “Never Give In!,” in Never Give In!  The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, ed. by his grandson, Winston S. Churchill (New York, New York: Hyperion, 2003), 307.

 

            2.  C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader,” Collier Books ed. (New York, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1970), 183-84.

 

            3.  Ibid., 184.  

 

            4.  Donald C. Stamps, ed., The Full Life Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 648.

 

            5.  Nehemiah 6:3 NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).

 

            6.  Nehemiah 6:10 NIV (New International Version).

 

7.      Nehemiah 6:11 NIV (New International Version).

 

8.  General Ronald R. Fogleman, (Ret.), “The Core Values In Combat” (The

Joseph A. Reich, Sr. Distinguished Lecture on War, Morality, and the Military Profession, Number Ten, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 12 November 1997, pp. 10-12), The Naval War College Library, Newport, RI.

 

Chapter Four

 

            1.  Winston S. Churchill, “Arm Yourselves, and be Ye Men of Valour,” in Never Give In!  The Best of Winston Churchill’s Speeches, ed. by his grandson, Winston S. Churchill (New York, New York: Hyperion, 2003), 229.

  

            2.   Frank McCarthy, prod., MacArthur (Universal City, California: Universal Pictures, 1977).

 

            3.  Genesis 39:4, 6 NIV (New International Version).

 

            4.  Genesis 39:8-9 NIV (New International Version).

 

5.      Larry Smith, Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words,

(New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 234-52.

 

6.      Jack H. Jacobs, interviewed by Larry Smith in Beyond Glory: Medal of

 Honor Heroes in Their Own Words, (New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 247-48.

 

7.  Ibid., 248.

 

Chapter Five

 

1.  Trevor Royle, comp., A Dictionary of Military Quotations, (New York, New

York: Academic Reference Division, Simon & Schuster, 1989), 155.

 

            2.  William Shakespeare, Henry V, 4:3, in The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works, ed. Howard Staunton (New York: Greenwich House, 1986), 850; quoted in Shannon E. French, The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values Past and Present (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 13. 

 

            3.  2 Samuel 15:19-20 NIV (New International Version).

 

            4.  2 Samuel 15:21 NIV (New International Version).

 

            5.  2 Samuel 15:22 NIV (New International Version).

 

6.  Larry Smith, Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words,

(New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 115-28.

 

7.      Thomas Hudner, Jr., interviewed by Larry Smith in Beyond Glory: Medal of

 Honor Heroes in Their Own Words, (New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003), 128.

 

Chapter Six

 

            1.  John 15:13 NIV (New International Version).

 

            2.  Henrik Ibsen, Peer Gynt, Act 4, Scene 13. 1875. Available from <https://eserver.org/drama/peer-gynt.txt/> [14 May 2004].

 

            3.  Rene’ O. Bideaux, comp., A Book of Personal Prayer, (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1997), 88.  Based on the prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. 

 

            4.  Tom Barnidge, “Tillman Follows Beat of a Different Drum.” 20 March 2003. <http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/5701425> [14 May 2004].

 

            5.  Ibid.

 

            6.  George Lewis, Jim Miklaszewski, and Alex Johnson, “Ex-NFL star Tillman Makes ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’: Safety, Who Gave Up Big Salary to Join Army, Killed in Afghanistan.” 26 April 2004. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4815441> [14 May 2004].

 

            7.  Ibid.

 

            8.  Ibid.

 

            9.  See Matthew 1:18-2:18, Luke 1:1-2:39.

 

            10.  See Mark 6:30-44.

 

11.   Mark 9:35 NIV (New International Version).

 

12.  See John 3:16.

 

13. Mark 10:45 NIV (New International Version).

 

14.   See Ephesians 1:3-7, Titus 2:11-14.

 

15.   See Matthew 27:27-54.

 

16.   See Matthew 28:1-20, Acts 1:1-11.

 

17.    I John 2:1 NIV (New International Version).

 

 

Conclusion

 

                1.  Luke 6:45 NIV (New International Version).

 

2.  Ardant du Picq, Battle Studies Ancient and Modern, trans. John N. Greely and Robert C. Cotton (New York: The Macmillan Company), 109.

 

3.  P. G. Bourne, Men, Stress, and Vietnam (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1970), n.p.; cited in Anthony Kellett, Combat Motivation: The Behavior of Soldiers in Battle (Hingham, Massachusetts: Kluwer Boston, Inc., 1982), 286.

 

4.  S. A. Stouffer, et. al., Studies in Social Psychology in World War II, Vol. 2, The American Soldier: Combat and Its Aftermath (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1949), n.p.; cited in Kellett, 194.

 

5.  Dale R. Herspring, Soldiers, Commissars, and Chaplains: Civil-Military Relations since Cromwell (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001), 43.

 

6.  J. C. J. Waite, “Uriah,” in The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962), 1305.  A literal translation of Uriah would be “my light is Yahweh.”

 

7.  Psalm 27:1-3 NIV (New International Version).

 

8.  Luke 22:39-43 NIV (New International Version).

 

9.  Isaiah 41:10, 40:30-31 NIV (New International Version).