A Candle in the Cave

Sounds like a title to a song or a poem I suppose but for me those five little words capture a fifteen minute conversation I had with a convicted felon last evening now facing a murder charge.  I will not use his name but will call him, Joe!. 

 

Joe is a small framed man, about mid forties I would imagine, African American and has stumbled through this life in a cave of darkness and despair as I have grown to know him over the last few months.  My first dealings with Joe was in a chapel service I was conducting and he was being disruptive by talking thus disturbing the purpose of the chapel which is to worship Jesus Christ in word and song.  I will not tolerate disrespect from any inmate for that sole purpose and have had several inmates removed from services for that very reason.  Joe quieted after I fairly nicely called him down and he realized he was being disruptive. This was before the murder charge for he had just been brought into the jail on a separate felony charge and I think, now, he was coming off his cocaine when the initial chapel service issue arose I described above. I assume Joe did not care too much for me in having handled the disruption but the other thirty inmates appreciated the opportunity to worship in quiet and solitude; as did I!

 

That night when I returned home Joe would not leave my mind and I felt a burden for him for some reason.  I developed a personal letter to him that evening intending to encourage him through this time he was facing; still before the murder charge please keep in mind.  I enclosed several other writings I had written from my life journey in the prison ministry that serve to give the recipient something worthwhile to read while incarcerated intending to educate and encourage.  As an aside, I have written now close to 1,800 such letters to inmates in other prisons and have received hundreds of letters from them while on their journey. So the letter writing is a corollary ministry that has evolved.

 

A week or so later I was back at the jail for two more chapel services and Joe was one of those that entered the service for I recognized him as I greeted him. He was embarrassed and downtrodden for the murder charge, I learned, had just been lodged against him that day.  I was unaware of that on the entry but when the inmates were seated, I walked back to Joe, shook hands pulling him to standing position and hugged him telling him how glad I was to get to worship with him. He teared immediately and I felt something was going on with Joe I did not know.  He was very quiet but attentive the entire service and thanked me warmly on his departure.  Joe would not leave my mind nor my heart!

 

A week later I was back at the Jail for another evening and the corrections officer asked me if I would meet with Joe since he now could not come to the chapel because the murder charge killed that opportunity for that charge made him categorized as a flight or suicide risk so he could not leave his cell area.  When the services were over that night the CO took me to Joe and was able to sit across from each other for twenty minutes face-to-face. He was depressed, frail and seemed hopeless. I hurt!  As he unpacked the story of his life, which I have heard so many, many times in this eleven years of this work, my heart was moved. I never excuse the crime nor the consequences for they have done the crime so they will do the time; that is consequence for bad choice thus making it worthy of the consequence. That night as I departed for home, I asked Joe if we could pray and he readily wanted me to.

 

I pulled my chair up to his side, held both his hands in both of mine and I prayed for his heart, his life, his days ahead and for peace in the midst of the storm he faced. I felt his body shaking from crying; a broken, exhausted young man still in cave in which he had lived his entire life. He thanked me as we hugged before I left for him.  My heart ached!  I wrote him another letter that evening hoping to encourage him and to challenge him to invest time in reading the Bible I had given him the night I just described; to seek God's Will for his life!

 

That has been roughly four weeks ago and I was back out there last evening for two more services.  I asked the CO how Joe was doing and he said he seemed to be doing much better and that he sees him reading his Bible often. He asked me if I wanted to visit with Joe which I did so as I got the second service up and running, the CO escorted me to Joe. We sat and I saw a man with a small smile, he had gained a little weight, he was thrilled I was visiting with him as well as shocked for he had had not a single visitor, letter nor call from anyone since that night I described above. I was so glad I had written him those two times. and gave him a Bible which I wrote a small note in to encourage him.

 

The countenance of Joe last night was remarkably changed. He was upbeat and appreciative on so many fronts given the fact the charge of murder is still hanging above him.  He told me "Jim, I know God is real and I believe He is makeing life better for me each passing day .."  I felt myself tearing up but with a sense of joy for the candle that had been lit in his cave of hopelessness.  Again on my departure, I pulled him along side of me, held both his hands at the wrists tightly as he gripped mine and I prayed for thanking God for protecting him and lifting him and asking God to continue to light his way through the turmoil of his future.  We stood and hugged and he smiled widely, first smile of sincerity I had seen from Joe during our brief few weeks together.

 

Why do I share this?  Many people reading this are in a cave with seemingly no exit and cannot find the light to escape the dungeon of doom.  It only takes one candle to be lit for it can be seen for eternity is how I view it.  Are you in a cave or would you happen to have a few candles and some matches for some others in dire need of the small ray of light?  Be a candle and be proud of that light that comes from the only true source of light which is Christ.

 

I hope this is an encouragement for each of you; it is for me for my eyes are still wet. Pray for the Joe's of this world for there are far too many to count.  I have worked now with nearly 230,000 men and women in a prison environment over these eleven years and guess who still gets the blessing from the toil, disappointments, failures, challenges, smells, frustrations, etc,? That would be me!!

Determining your currency!

"Currency" is an interesting word for it has many meanings and applications.  I love to teach about money to students for they, like most, feel that "currency" is money when in reality "currency" means a medium of exchange.  The dollar bill is a piece of paper with ink on it, right?  But the implied value of the United States of America to ensure the value of that worthless piece of paper makes that piece of paper "currency" that translates into  a means to buy and sell; money!

 

I was watching Amy Poehler, a comedian, being interviewed by Charlie Rose and she used the term "currency" in a statement that said, ..."I found my currency .."   That use intrigued me immediately for I realized that each of us in this village have our own unique "currency" or "medium of exchange" that allows us to walk this journey in differing degrees of comfort and joy.  As I sit here writing this I am thinking of so many of my former students, people I worship with, men I sing with, my family, etc and think of each as to what is their "currency" when it relates to how they interface with me or with others. What is it that makes each of us unique as individuals as it relates to interface with others on their own unique journey?

 

Some people have humor, some looks, some energy, some forcefulness, some drivers, some "sleepers," with others using increments from the tool chest of a culture.  Personalities form through DNA plus living and experiences and choice.  If you are happy, you are happy by choice. If you are sad or angry, you are sad and angry by choice, right? 

 

So, as I turn the microscope on myself to bring color to my "currency" palette, I believe my currency factors, those that facilitate interface with others as a medium of exchange within my culture, are many.  Seeking to be good at what I do, drive to understand, loving to see people succeed, getting angry when I see people choosing to not do their best to utilize their capability; all those are me.  As well, striving to let people know I am dependable and willing to assist is significant to me.  Music is a major component of my "currency" at this stage of my life but not for singing for the sake of singing. I love to sing for I have seen myriad examples of the work of singing that brings joy, brings comfort, brings release of the struggles of this life. I have seen smiles and tears, watched faces lift and heard many stories of how this song or that song changed their life. 

 

Teaching is another form of my "currency" I believe for I love teaching but less about teaching but more the challenge and the opportunity to effect change in people's lives that I know will stretch out to at least two generations.  My "currency" resides in building a trust that is capital for future growth and improvement.  Being tough, being frank, being straight, taking no excuses for poor performance, listening proactively; all of those are weapons in my arsenal to enhance my "currency" of changing a person's direction when I see so clearly the pathway they currently trod leading to where they do not need to be going.  Coaching them, encouraging them, loving them, being tough on them and finding never a finish line are parts of the diamond cluster of change forward that allows me to find true joy in what I get to do.

 

So I ask you the question .. what is your "currency" that allows you to engage others in your culture and how effective is it? Can it be made better? Is it worth the effort?

 

As I sit here rereading my words, I believe this blog is one of the more personally in-depth writings I have done for I found myself probing deeply into my heart to ascertain what it is that allows me to be and to do what I get to do and find such joy in that endeavor. I believe joy is the capstone of the effectiveness of your currency now that I think about it.  If you are not feeling a sense of joy in what you do regardless of effort, energy burn, work, then I would posit that perhaps you have not located and are not utilizing your true "currency" for it is others' response that provide the metric for your "currency", right?

 

A year of my life 1973-1974 was  a year invested in attending the Army's Officer Candidate School.  That year is a milestone in my life for that year taught me so much about myself under the stress and duress of having to perform with others 24/7.  I realized in that tough environment I flourished in the leadership realm for the tougher it got, the better I loved finding ways via my "currency" to get others to step up and deliver.  During my journey, there have been several "interventions" that have marked my journey but that year at the Alabama Military Academy shot a new azimuth for the life of Jim Williams.  I would imagine as you do your mirror searching, there are interventions or events that prompted azimuth change that altered the rest of your life to this moment.  Give that some thought, please!

 

So I challenge you to internalize my words and I would love your feedback on both my words and more importantly, on how you would describe your "currency," your medium of exchange with others, please!

Big Government

I was in our nation's capitol last week for a few vacation days. I have been there four other times in my life with spans of about ten years between each visit.  Many have heard me speak of my love for Washington for it is the most spectacular and imposing capitol in the world for I have experienced many of the others as well.  The architecture is simply amazing, the diversity of the people you see hurriedly traversing the streets gives you rich insight to the "melting pot" of our nation exampled so clearly in D.C.  The traffic, well, that is enough said on that topic for any sane human intentionally choosing to careen through the horn-blowing nut jobs of that city must be on something or needing to be on something such as NyQuil Extra Strength. Of course, I can say that as a stupid Ohio tourist for I chose to be part of the nut jobs two days finding myself absolutely exhausted by day's end when the NASCAR experience had ended.  Washington is, well, Washington; designed to impose and exert awe in those that visit as said by President George Washington himself. I say to Old George, "Mission Accomplished."

 

But to my real point this morning.  Having now been there and walked the streets, visited the amazing vistas and cemeteries and places of honor, one cannot help but be amazed by the greatness of our nation. But with no pun intended, the thing that stands out most to be over my four visits with ten years in between, is the almost unimaginable size of the government offices that comprise huge chunks of the landscape with the national bird, the crain, being evident in all directions meaning more and more being constructed.  When you realize, then, that the largest employer in the United States is the United States government funded, of course, by We the People, one must take pause and process what that means against the context of democracy and the free market economic system of this nation.  Let me state once more, THE LARGEST EMPLOYER IN THE UNITED STATES is our government and getting larger and funded more and more by monies borrowed from other nations because the tax revenues will not pay the full tab for the massive growth in government workers. . 

 

It is not my intent to bash an already bashed President but it is his watch now for going on nearly two terms.  We are truly, undeniably in a time of HUGE, not big, HUGE GOVERNMENT and all you need to do is visit Washington and see the physical evidence.  Mind you, I have former great students that are employed in Washington by We the People and I could not be happier with their career paths but it is staggering to see the workers in D.C. via the prism of demographics. 

 

I commented to my wife each day we were in the city walking around and especially the government offices that what you see is staggering numbers of twenty and thirty-somethings all in immaculate dark dress suits looking like covers from GQ magazine.  I say that not as a criticism but I can assume from that snapshot that We the People are paying well thus why the incalculable number of government workers that abound. Tourists are ample and that is to be expected but seeing workers no doubt in the various government office areas with so many more being constructed stands out to be as the most imposing change in the times when I was there before.

 

For example, to see the Department of Transportation with two huge office complexes devoted to the Federal Aviation Administration alone causes one to ponder why so much and so many.  I joked with my wife when looking at the cubicles of the ten floors of offices from across the street in seeing if we could actually see a single person at his or her cubicle desk working at their desktop. We found ONE in our cursory workplace analysis.  That may sound trivial but I think it portends a greater, darker concern.  Our government is just too big and too integrated to be managed efficiently is my belief.   Yes, we living in a great, diverse nation and Washington is a prism for that but what I witnessed subjectively indicates to me this growth that is taxpayer funded has lost control and the bureaucracy is growing and managing itself.  

 

Coming from a manufacturing world, you realize the easiest thing in the world is to throw more people or money at a problem thus you never actually have to manage the fix to the problem.  Finding root causes, ferreting out culprits and impediments to that fix and then attacking the cancer until it is eradicated is fundamental to management.  Constantly adding more and more and more people, offices, technology, etc, only exacerbates the issue; not fixes it and that is my assessment of what I witnessed last week.  I can now more fully understand why each election cycle some party will choose to try and gain entry to the White House by striving for smaller, more efficient government. To that challenge I say a hearty, Amen!

 

People that make things, sell things, generate cash flow is what drives an economy; not exponentially creating more taxpayer funded office workers. When you look at the formula for calculating the Gross Domestic Product:  GDP = C + I + G + (E-I), you begin to see what I am saying more clearly.  "C" is consumer spending which normally accounts for roughly 70% of the GDP equation and the "G" is government spending, a negative draw on the GDP, usually is about 15%. That figure today is nearly double that while consumer spending is at about less than 60%.  Consumer spending means people are working, earning and buying; all adding value to the GDP.  Government spending, taxpayer funded, is a negative and seeing Washington one can readily see the implication boldfaced.

 

I will close by stating frankly that I have been deeply concerned about our nation and our leadership for several years for all evidence I see adds to that concern domestically and globally. As I walked past the Capitol where the Presidential inauguration is conducted, I found myself more concerned than ever about this nation and its leadership and that is not a partisan comment. That new adage, too big to fail, that became so infamous during the economic collapse in 2008 is amplified in orders of magnitude when you see the unbelievable size of government in our capitol. And mind you I did not see all of it nor the outlying reaches of government in Langley, Andrews, etc. etc.  

 

If performance is measured in increments of efficiency, and it is in a free market system, we are losing that battle daily.  Thus, my concern about MY government is enhanced.  Maybe the next POTUS and Congress will seriously attack this cancer. But then, I walked down K Street where the lobbyist office complexes, (palaces) are housed so that hope was dashed for reform for the power of money is the fuel in the tanks of Washington. So I guess I will not hold my breath for real reform. But as the eternal optimist, one can hope can't one?

"Inevitable .." Same Sex Marriage

Yesterday was a day I will remember for a while.  The announcement or pronouncement is more like it that the Supreme Court of our nation decided not to hear same sex marriage cases from five states was received with great joy and celebration on the news networks, cities and towns in America; I was deeply saddened. I heard the CNN Jeff Toobin that covers the SCOTUS say that with the now thirty of the fifty States approving legally same sex marriage and that in those thirty States, sixty percent of the US population resides, that it is "inevitable" that all fifty States will allow same sex marriage in the near future negating the need for a SCOTUS ruling that would cover the United States; all fifty.  

 

As I processed that during the day yesterday, I found myself saddened and, yes, even more concerned with the direction, pace and trajectory of our nation at a societal level.  I think all of this came closer to my heart in getting to teach twenty-one high school seniors in a Christian school for the last three days. During that time I saw true hunger to learn housed in abundant manners and respect and sheltered in the arms of daily Bible readings to the entire school and corporate prayer from the Superintendent's office; the leadership!  In working with thousands of students, college level students, in the last ten years, I felt this sense of confliction in this small group of young people about face a tumultuous world with conflicting values and mores.  I think the world of every student I have been honored to work with over the last decade but I am not too old or too stupid not to realize via Facebook, emails, etc, that many of my former students are in gay relationships, living unmarried, etc, etc.  So sadly, that is rapidly becoming the new norm.

 

In thinking so much of the students for the time invested with each of them, it is so easy to simply forget or choose not to see that fact that some of their chosen lifestyles is quite frankly, morally wrong.  But it is the degree and depth of societal acceptance that is most concerning to me. So all the "inevitability" of our entire nation supposedly will acquiesce into allowing same sex marriages to become the norm just does not sit right with me at the heart. I know what Scripture says which is abundantly clear that marriage is a union between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreating and the biology and physiology our Creator devised allows that to take place.  Now when I see and hear of same sex, women, married and both are pregnant from sperm banks and with an already existing child or two adopted in that "family, I marvel at how in the world will any of those children define "normal" as they paths unfold on this life journey?

 

For me the SCOTUS decision was another ax chop to our society and, worse, had to have been another major disappointment to our Creator.  No wonder our jails and prisons are overflowing, Americans are killing each other at record levels, drug addiction grows and worsens each year, etc.  It is almost humorous to me, sadly, that if one takes a position on an issue based on Scriptural foundation on social media such as Facebook,  you can know the hailstorm of cynicism  and blatant animosity ushers forth toward the person taking a stand, such as myself, will be harsh, rude and disrespecful.  When I find myself in the cross hair of the criticism for taking a position I know to be right in God's Word, I solace myself from the withering fire with one of my life Principles: if you do what what you have always done, you get what you have always gotten and seconded with, if you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything.

 

Americans, generally I sense, have chosen to stop fighting for what is right in God's view and from His Word. Call me what you wish but I call myself a man that studies the Bible and seeks to live within the foundations and boundaries of those Words.  As I think about that group of twenty-one Christian-schooled young minds and the world they will face soon, I  can only commit to praying for their choices, their lives and their testimonies that will highlight the learning they have been blessed to receive in an environment seeking to do and to be in God's Will.

 

I will close with what I have written before:  Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong and no amount of Wrong will ever make a Wrong, Right!  So my critics can just have at it from that platform.  Someone had the audacity to indicate yesterday via a FB shot that the Constitution supersedes the Bible for the Constitution is more current and modern.  Lest we forget that the framers of the Constitution were men that sought God's Will and Words in the crafting of the Constitution.

 

Some time I just have to shake my head in wonder!

Like Sands Through the Hour Glass!

Each year about this time, many photos of class and family reunions find their way to the threads on FB and this year is certainly no exception.  Usually I will not even look at them but  over the last couple of days, I have looked at two class reunions from my hometown.  In one pack, a graduate of 1968 posted his class reunion photos at their 25th, their 35th  and their latest, the 45th.  Having graduated from the same high school in 1966 and played basketball with some of them as younger players, I recognized quite a few from their most recent photos; always great to see. But what was most striking was the changes from across the years with the number of people there reducing with each reunion. All that is quite normal I realize but  see that populational shift, the now white or no hair, the physical condition of the class; all caused me to take pause and reflect on my own life.  Seeing another packet of photos from another high school in my hometown practically none of whom I had ever known, I was again struck by the physical changes that happens, called aging, in the lines and faces of those attending. 

 

As I have processed the passage of time due to studying the photos, the mirror turned on my own life now approaching a 50th reunion in the not too distant future.  Let me insert here that I feel physically and mentally blessed and love living life to the fullest. I love all I get to do for I can still do it; a blessing.  In all of the introspective of this day, I realized that the measurement of life is far less about the number of days given you on this span but more importantly, in how you choose to invest in others including family.  The miracle of Christ kept coming to me this day in a most powerful way in that He knew His days on earth would be few but He came to this earth on a mission and sought each day and with each relationship to fulfill that mission.  

 

In teaching leadership to countless numbers of people in my span, I always begin with defining Mission for inset with that definition is the fuel for what drives this miracle called Life. Mission is defined as "one's reason to exist."  Once you determine what your reason to be on this earth for but a few years is, then focusing the energies and skills given you to accomplish you unique, individual Mission is energized.  Again, Christ's Mission was very clear and He sought to accomplish it with every breath He took until His last breath; then He went Home to be with His Father; our Father!

 

Many will look at spans of time through the prism of class or family reunions and get all depressed and worried about that time slipped or creep. There are others, I choose to be in that group, one that takes each day, each breath, each meeting to be the best I can be which is more and more for me measured by how best I can assist in making others' situation better.  Given the opportunity to teach, to sing, to meet, to minister, to be a husband, a father, a grandfather, a man that loves Christ; I honestly do not see how life on this earth can be more fulfilling.  The blessing of good health and energy and drive are the means by which my Mission can be achieved. I can say all of that with absolutely no ego-centric thoughts whatsoever.

 

See, I learned many years ago that you will never learn to lead anyone nor anything until you learn to Serve. So serving others in any and every way presented to you with those God will bring into your path physically, via things like FB, calls, email, etc, is not only a challenge but it is a Choice.  So even though the hair is more white than black now and not as much of it, sometimes bones make strange sounds when you get out of bed or you have routine check ups with doctors for body, eyes, teeth, I never lose sight of what is my Mission.  See, the Mission is the tether for all the events, challenges and desires of one's life.  Thus, for whatever number of days or reunions remain before me, I know that my life is full and fulfilling for it is rooted in God's Word I love to dig into each day.  My pastor, which is amazing, underscored that again in yesterday's sermon that if you want to know God Will, drill into God's Word.  That may sound trite to some but to some I will get some Amens for I believe you know when you are in God's Will if you choose to be; I choose to be!

 

So this particular blog is more personal than most for me for seeing the brevity of life and the impact of life on this body is eyeopening whether you know the person or not.  Realizing value of what you do on this journey here on earth is not the true measure of a man or a woman but rather the measure is what are you and I doing to cause people to seek to be saved from an eternal Hell; that is the measure, right?

 

Again at a very personal level, I think all of this I have written about above is part of this internal churn I am feeling about returning to teaching at the university level which means pulling back from some of the other things I am now invested in.  See, in the ten years of teaching, I became fundamentally aware that teaching young minds is more than an hour in a class room but more about this; if you truly care and invest yourself into that student, you are touching the future and the legacy of that student for two generations in what you say, how you conduct yourself, how you reflect God's touch on your life; how much you care!

 

In closing, can you articulate what really is your Mission for this journey of life?  Let me say that I know I am blessed. I know that I am getting to do what I believe is right and good in God's eyes; not mine but realizing alignment exists with His Will and what I get to do, makes the water cooler and the air cleaner.  See, the great news is that when this life is over, it just gets better for eternity.  Can I get a witness to that?

 

For those that have put up the reunion photos, thank you and thus see what you caused to happen within me? God is good; no, God is Great!!!!!

Growth versus Comfort -- Not Going To Happen!

Last evening I was watching an interview with a female executive and really was not paying much attention for I was also listening with my ear buds to music on YouTube; yes, it can be done!  Toward the end of her impassioned dialog, she made a comment that captured what I have realized, lived and believed during my entire life.  She said, "the reality is that Growth and Comfort cannot co-exist.  STOP!  What?  Let me amplify.

 

As humans we all want comfort which is closely linked to peace.  It, Comfort, provides a sense of stability, worth and can also breed laziness and detachment.  The Growth versus Comfort concept gelled for me in working my brain back through the decade of teaching university students in a high energy, competitive, team-driven, high expectation learning endeavor.  Even before I met the student, my fundamental assumption was that they were coming into my world as their professor to be stretched and not groomed, elevated to perform and not simply to listen, to be part of the course work and not a spectator.  Most of my students, as they will attest if they read this, was that the pressure to organize, plan, direct, execute and to develop work relationships with others in their assigned team began with a very personal choice that said, I Can Do This! Once that ICDT was internalized, a magical moment to witness or a painful journey for those that chose not to internalize for peer pressure can been horrid and disconcerting yet a powerful force of change, the real learning process was launched.

 

See, in that contextual paragraph, the genesis of today's blog is illustrated in that Growth and Comfort are incompatible forces in a competitive environment. Growth is a choice! I speak about and write much about the power of Choice for it is that powerful force that drives one forward or pushes one backward.  You then add that into the gin of team-based work and you have an amazing mechanism for Change which will lead to Growth thus requiring more Change as the fuel to energize or Growth.

 

There is a long standing and much debated economic theory, Creative Destruction, that postulates that economic performance is fueled and driven via the destruction or utilization of a blend of the Factors of Production, Land, Labor, Capital and Technology.  As the blend, the means, is consumed thus deconstructed and destroyed, the more creative ways of blending the Factors to need heights and needs will drive the economy. 

 

I absolutely believe that.  In that belief, back to my professorial experience using corporate leadership lessons learned in that classroom world, I saw ever increasing levels of utilization of the Factors in accomplishing the heavy load of course work within the framework of men and women working cohesively and productively to get the work done. My challenge as their professor or CEO of Jim, Inc, was to meter the progress in each team seeking as an Air Traffic Controllers to monitor all the teams / planes, from where they were to the right air strip at the right time and with the right landing info to the pilot / team leader. Magical to experience!!!!

 

For me, the words of the lady last night were a positive jolt again the in this world; we may seek Comfort and that is a noble venture but the means to getting to that state is through the energies and demands of Growth.  Some will read that and will totally disagree but in my lifetime and with the countless experiences in the military, career at Goodyear and some amazing leaders and even more amazing challenges, a decade of teaching young people, prison ministry, leading a singing quartet, raising a family, etc, etc, the fact is that Growth drives change in the strive for a state of Comfort.  This one paragraph is a beacon for leaders to lock onto for at the aggregate of my words is the real challenge for leaders. One of my fall back points about leading is that one will never learn to lead until they learn to serve.  Serving people's real needs, key word is REAL, is a bridge to the resource potential of those being led, right?

 

One of my great leaders taught me once that there is NO CHANGE until there is a MEASURABLE CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR and to that I say a resounding Amen this early morning.  Growth is not without consternation nor void of fear for growth means it is time to jump off the high dive into the dark waters of the night.  Once that courage is elevated to accomplish the leap, leading, then the waters begin to feel enveloping and spurs the elixir of Growth; but it did not come via the boulevard of Comfort; quite the contrary, did it?

 

It is my belief, hope, that this particular blog, more academic than most, will embrace many that will read it for I have written my heart; a heart crafted from many years of doing.  Seek the pathway of Growth in every endeavor and the fruits of the labor and choice will yield sweeter, cooler water to ease the pain of thirst. This requires levels of commitment and energy far too many just cannot and choose not to invest.  That group is what I called the Twenty Percent Club for it is they that choose that Club that will impede and impugn the performance of the 80% that are always in place, ready to perform, seeking the fuel of growth and you can depend on. 

 

NEVER BE A 20%er and yes, it is a choice!

"Another Vietnam ..."? Really?

As the bombing over Syria finally got underway last evening, I was looking forward to waking up  and reading scores of news in the international news feeds I like to read talking about the massive damage to this cancerous mob with much footage of bombed out headquarters buildings, American tanks burning in place, etc.  What I have awakened to are headlines that bombs fell, Egypt apparently has thrown in with the coalition, finally, but not proof positive of what damage was, in fact, delivered to these much deserving jihadists; maybe later today but we will see. The most troubling comment I read in the NY Times was by a Brit that indicated the war against ISIL "will be another Vietnam."

 

That term still carries a sense of doom and wrong and "quagmire" will be floated sometime today no doubt, another pearl of Vietnam era dialog and critique.  The whole Vietnam experience and the nearly 60,000 Americans that died there, some friends of mine, still echoes through the minds and the hearts of many when comparisons and parallels of this war on ISIL is already being compared to Vietnam; it sickens me, frankly.  Let me explain why from my perspective if I may.

 

Never lose sight of the fact that the American military won the Vietnam War tactically, on the ground in the two way firing range.  America had far superior weaponry, air assets and leadership.  That was the tactical component. That is very true today in this fight against ISIL.  Strategically, meaning the national leadership and the population, lost the war in Vietnam through micro-management, political sway, and the conflict simply went on too long for those very reasons because POTUS and his key advisers were calling tactical moves and bomb targets from Washington and not military commanders on the ground.  Already we see the exact same actions by Obama.

 

There is already open crevices between POTUS and his Joint Chiefs and the Chairman, GEN Dempsey had the unction to speak before a Senate committee just last week about and was chastised by the media immediately.   So some of the root structure of allegiances, politics, misinformation, etc already abounds and last night was Day 1 of the attack on ISIL at their Motel 6 in Syria so I must be assume this will get louder. I have intentionally not turned on the news this morning on TV for two reasons; Most importantly to not wake up my wife and secondly, I wanted my thoughts on this blog to not be tainted yet.

 

What was allowed to happen in Vietnam now historically was an abomination in my humble opinion. Do I feel Vietnam a "just cause" at that time in history for America to be fighting?  Given the times, the space and the rise of Communism in the Far East coming off Korea and the French debacle at Dien Bien Phu, I certainly do believe it.  But I will state here that the Colin Powell Doctrine of going to war with OVERWHELMING force stands as the clearest way to win a war I have witnessed in my lifetime.  This is all made clearer to me in watching the Ken Burns THE ROOSEVELTS episodes this week.  Do you know how we, America, defeated the forces of evil in Germany, Italy and Japan?  Simply, the whole of AMERICA went to war with them; not a relatively small handful of soldiers but the entire industrial / military / population complex went into the fight fully and wholly. We have, in this nation, not seen that corporate joining of forces with strategic intent since nor will we now I am convinced even with the evidence of 9/11 still clear in the minds of so many including mine.

 

See, we do not fight wars since WWII.  We send others to do it for us like hiring mercenaries. Remember this old television program, "Have Gun, Will Travel" and old Paladin, for enough money wearing his black outfit and black horse would slowly ride into the sun set to the next destination willing to pay his fee and thirty minutes later he would ride out to the next paying gig. Sadly, I find that a solid analogy for America's "war machine" logic since WWII and we can see the impact clearly.  In Persian Gulf 1, we put hundreds of fully equipped soldiers and machines in the desert to attack Hussein and literally scared the Iraqi Army into or out of existence. OVERWHELMING is the operative word I believe.  That word is powerful.

 

It reminds me of the first time I as a skinny 6 foot 4 basketball player that loved the heavy contact of the game came across this kid I had to defend that was 6 feet 11; talk about paradigm shift for me. I remember the night we played that team my assistant coach  stopped me after the head coach had given us the normal "let's beat 'em boys" speech before the game. The assistant grabbed me by the arm, got in my face pushing me against a lock and with finger almost in my nose, not too nicely said the following ..."boy (that would be me), the only way we can win this game is you (that would be me again" have got one responsibility which is to get that big kid out of the game. I don't care what you have to do but you have to get him out of the game, got it?" Yep, I got it for me, Paladin, took that floor with a vengeance against this tall kid and it was a battle royal from the tip off not to mention a blood letting, elbow burying experience.  I had the opportunity four minutes into the third quarter to be on offense and the tall guy was behind me reaching over me so I chose that moment to put my skinny elbow somewhere through his chest stopping close to his spine no doubt. He went down, fists began to fly, we were both ejected, we won. "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" my assistant coach told me when I took my place on the bench. I will never forget that night.

 

Why do I share that pearl from my life? I do for it portrays exactly where America has evolved to I believe.  You win by winning and win by using every single asset you have like the tip ofa spear. We lack that and have since 1945 with one exception, sort of, which was Persian Gulf 1.  So you can know, I do not agree with the all volunteer military for if you are going to live and enjoy the fruits of this nation, you should be mandated to serve this nation in some capacity with military being a valid option for two or three years.  I have floated this concept to thousands of college students in the last decade only to find that my position is totally out of the realm of reason for this young people. They want nothing to do with the military, feel they are above such duty to the nation and that I have lost my mind, basically.

 

You want to defeat ISIL and whatever come next and next?  The ENTIRE resources of the sane nations must bring to bear the full assets of the nation in war materiel, people, alliances ... ALL focused squarely every day on that end. But we will not for are too smart, too savvy, too well off, too ....  but we will pay our youth to go do it for us won't we?  Israel, to me, is the perfect example of how to staff a military which means every man and women is militarily trained and weaponed with  small contingent on active duty but the entire population up to a certain age on call for return to duty quickly.  As a consultant to businesses, I learned one thing which is that until the client has "skin in the game," your consulting will never get off the ground meanign listening and acting in accordance with your idea and recommendations. So how much skin in this ISIL game do you have, really?

 

ISIL is not the NVA nor Viet Cong; it is ideologically worse for the fanaticism "holy wars" elicit is at play. I know many Islamists that are all great people that want peace and to enjoy living with each other. What we see is that infamous 20% that thwarts the goodness of the 80%. But never lose sight of the fact that if you do not evaporate the existence of the 20%, it will have a cancerous impact on the 80% which is what we are witnessing. If we do not eradicate this cancer now, the ranks of ISIL will grow exponentially. America need so lead the way in absoluteness of destiny in this fight and not micro managing every missile strike or bomb target from POTUS office which is exactly how this is starting out apparently.

 

This is a just war but to win a just war, you must fight the war justly meaning fully, completely as Sun Tzu taught us in 500 BC.  If the enemy embeds itsel in civilian population areas, then civilians will be killed; sad but true but that is the cost of war. Take the fight to the enemy where he eats and sleeps.  Out gun him, out fight him, annihilate him; that is winning a war and a war worth winning. None of us want to live through another "Vietnam" nor its horrific decades of scars that we still see and get compared to. We are better than that but it begins with a Commander-in-Chief committed fully to defeating this whole enemy. I am looking for that is in CNC but have yet to witness the proof, frankly.