An Officer Corps That Can’t Score By William S. Lind, I read this article a few days ago and have spent days thinking how totally hosed we all were.
In the article Mr Lind makes some very good points—and he ponders where are today’s reformers, where are the men such as Col John Boyd USAF, Col Mike Wyly USMC, and Col Huba Wass de Czege USA, each of whom led a major effort to reorient his service. Today, indeed… the landscape is barren. Not a military voice is heard calling for thoughtful, substantive change—and Lord knows we need it.
I guess I take it personally, I have tried to make reform…I have led teams, squadrons, groups of acolytes that tried to tackle the beast of bureaucracy—and indeed we have enjoyed much success and suffered many defeats, but I am no John Boyd…just a loud bald guy…a rouge commander…or perhaps an enlightened rebel. Do we give up? The problem is too big, my influence is too small—the excuses are endless. AND…in those excuses lie all the folks doomed to failure. Robert F. Kennedy once said “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” We read about all those who had success…we don’t necessarily read about those that provided the ideas, the concepts, the shoulders for those to come…to stand on.
We really have no idea what tomorrow will bring…heck we don’t know if tomorrow will even come at all, so ponder Dead Poet Society. Robin Williams plays a boarding school English teacher named Mr John Keating. In the scene below Keating makes his students stand before a trophy case…
Gather ye rosebuds while you may
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying
Keating asks his students…his proteges…about the importance of their lives with the statement” “The powerful play goes on, and each of us can contribute a verse….what will your verse be?”
So do we accept things as they are? Or do we attempt to transform things as we would like them to be? What is our verse?
Someone will be the John Boyd, the Mike Wyly, or the Huba Wass de Czege of this generation…it probably won’t be me—but if we can help those build their “verse?” Is that not an amazing responsibility?
We will all be “Fertilizing daffodils” someday… so carpe diem…seize the day…make your lives extraordinary. Or as Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world.’
We have one life to live…make it count—today, tomorrow, and the next day.
My plea is this… don’t give up… Carpe Diem
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. – Hebrews 10:23-25
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