Memorial Day
“It is only the dead who have seen the end of war”
Plato
By chance I had the good fortune of catching what I found to be an amazing interview on the radio Memorial Day weekend. Terry Gross of Fresh Air on NPR (National Public Radio) was interviewing the writer of a book which detailed his experiences as a commander of a unit in Iraq in 2003. The interview captured my attention as, when listening to it, you can feel the gentleness of this man’s character come through. Gentleness inwardly during a time of external chaos is something I find fascinating and encouraging.
It encouraged me to see that even in the depths of pure chaos of the external world, the resilient heart can sustain. And what was more encouraging was that same heart could emerge from such a situation, perhaps a bit battered, bruised and bandaged, and use that experience to bring more light to the world for others.
Now, as you may imagine, I am not someone who advocates war, my goal is to bring more peace to the world by teaching others how to find inner peace and better deal with the ongoing wars that come about in our heads with our thoughts. However, I have come to accept that war is a condition of man in this world (as Plato so prolifically states above) and I have tremendous respect for the character it takes to put oneself in harm’s way for the benefit of others, regardless of the underlying politics.
What I loved most about the interview was that the author so clearly captures the states of mind he was forced to encounter. He discusses the situations he was up against and the many struggles he endured mentally to always do the right thing; to the point that he inwardly resigned himself to death in order to focus on the care of his men. He states “to be a good combat leader, you have to have absolutely no concern for your own safety. You can’t think of home, you can’t miss your wife, you can’t wonder how it would feel to take a round through the neck. You can only pretend that you’re already dead to free yourself up to focus.” He discusses with the interviewer that he found taking this attitude of already being dead to be “liberating”. Liberating in terms of freeing himself from the fear of any physical harm he may encounter himself and, as such, allowing him to focus completely on the welfare of his men; of others.
The author concludes the interview discussing his transition back into the civilian world and the true gratitude he has for being in this country; a gratitude you can clearly feel in his voice. I also believe he is fortunate to possess a perspective that often gets thrown around, but that I don’t think most people can take to heart. He states, “Every time I’m having a rough day or difficult time, I calm down and asks myself: Am I being shot at? Is anyone going to be wounded as a result of what has gone wrong today? Is this life or death or is this something that will fade in time? And if it’s not life and death, and my family has their health, and if my wife and daughter are doing well and my friends are in good shape.. I don’t have very much to complain about”.
This man has a genuine perspective on life I know I can learn from.
You can hear this interview yourself by going to the NPR website: http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=05-25-2009&view=storyview
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