| leadership and love, revisited.
the kid was a belligerent. he was lazy, he was slow, he was
unmotivated. out of all of my Marines, he was the only one who would
repeatedly disrespect me, and would never acknowledge, "Aye aye,
corporal." the clever punishments i came up with and the impromptu
ass-chewings didn't do the job. he had no Espirit de Corps.
one afternoon, i found him asleep in his bed, while everybody else was
working their asses off in the 100+ degree heat. i immediately
unleashed my fury on him, then chased him back to our work section. but
before going back in, i said, stop.
Stop.
i said, Listen. obviously i'm doing something wrong. i have the respect
of all of my Marines. they all do what i need them to do. i respect
them, they respect me. with the exception of one person. you. so you
tell me. what am i doing wrong. what do i need to do?
he said. i dont like your style of leadership, corporal. i'm like your
kid. we're all like your kids. and all you ever do is yell at us.
you're like our father. how do you expect me to respect you if all you
do is yell at me?
...
i realized.
i realized that somewhere along the line, i forgot. i forgot that love
is the best style of leadership. i forgot that the people is what
matters, not the mission. i forgot that respect is earned, and cannot
be demanded.
so for the remainder of the 2 weeks, i tried to change. i stopped the
ass-chewings, i stopped all the cursing and the screaming. i tried to
be less aggressive towards my Marines.
and just like the redeemed, i saw a change in response. not only in
that one belligerent Marine, but in the rest of them as well. i saw a
new attitude in each of them, and i saw a new bonding between all of
them.
there was one iraqi veteran under me, who hated everything that was the
Marine Corps. he respected me, and listened to me, but he just hated
the Marines. everything he did, he did it for my sake, and not for the
sake of the Corps. he hated every single living day in the Marines,
except for the single fact that each day was one less remaining on his
contract.
but i saw a change in him too.
at the end of the 2 weeks, he said one simple thing. he said something
i could not believe actually came out of his mouth. he said one simple
thing that i will never forget.
he said. you know, if we go to Iraq again, and i knew that i was going
to be with you and everybody else in our group, i might actually want
to go too.
every great story is a story about love, and war stories are no exception. |
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Daniel: i borrowed eric's guitar so i can learn guitar im trying to make a new me a sexier one fitter musical hahahha me: how are you accomplishing the sexier part? Daniel: bastard |
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| You know, even though Harold Camping is pretty rash to say that Jesus is coming back on October 20, 2011, setting an imminent date for his return does serve a purpose though. At least for me, it enhances (or creates) the sense of urgency I have (or need) for telling my friends about Christ.
...Maybe that was Mr. Camping's purpose after all???
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| at JH, it makes me happy when the person making announcements says we're having small groups today,
and i hear little voices around me going "yes!"
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