“The world's battlefields have been in the heart chiefly; more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
Clark Poling (a Dutch Reformed minister), George Fox (a Methodist minister), Alexander Goode (a Jewish rabbi), and John Washington (a Catholic priest) became fast friends in 1942 while attending a training school for Chaplains at Harvard College. In January 1943 all four men embarked for England together on the USAT Dorchester, along with 900 soldiers.
On February 2nd, the Dorchester was torpedoed by a German submarine and immediately began to sink. The four chaplains worked as a team to try and get the soldiers into life jackets and onto lifeboats. When the life jackets ran out, the four chaplains took theirs off and gave them to soldiers waiting, but kept working to get the men off the ship. Within 27 minutes of being hit, the Dorchester sank, carrying 672 men down with it. It was reported by survivors that the four chaplains were last seen together on the deck, arms linked, praying as the ship went down.
Here is a jaw-dropping example of the virtue of courage. And this story, as do all stories of extraordinary heroism, shakes us and reminds us of who we can be. Obviously this is worthwhile. But there is also a risk in telling the kind of stories that inspire books, and movies, and songs. They can leave the 99% of us who will never find ourselves on a sinking ship or a bloody battlefield, or in a burning building, or a hijacked airplane with a distorted understanding of courage---and heroism.
“The world's battlefields have been in the heart chiefly; more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history.”
We must recognize that there is the extraordinary in the ordinary!
If we wait for epic moments to begin practicing courage, and to reveal the hero in each one of us, this great big world of ours is going to go ahead and finish falling apart. Because there is no goodness, no “doing the right thing,” without courage.
Courage is about withstanding hardships for the greater good, resisting temptation for the greater good, and then taking positive action for the greater good. It challenges you to be bigger than you’d otherwise be, and to en-courage others to step up as well. It is found at the testing point of every virtue.
Yes, soldiers, and first responders, and martyrs can be wonderful examples of courage and heroism. But so too can:
-Parents who resist the temptation to stop parenting prematurely
-Teens who resist negative peer pressure, and do what’s right instead of what’s popular
-Children who choose to not bully, and then stand with the one being bullied
-Employees who choose not to gossip
-Spouses who choose to remain faithful in good times and bad
-Friends who are willing to speak the truth in love to one another
Each of us has the ability to practice courage everyday, in little and big ways. We don’t have to go looking for opportunities either, we just need to be paying attention
Because in those opportunities each of us has the chance, no the responsibility, to be a hero.
Questions for reflection:
Do you want to be a hero?
Who models the virtue of courage for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of courage?
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
No and yes: The virtue of availability
“God does not begin by asking our ability, only our availability, and if we prove our dependability, He will increase our capability.”
-Neal A. Maxwell
Do you know the name Irena Sendler? She was a social worker, a member of the Polish underground, and personally responsible for saving 2,500 Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
In 1939, 450,000 Jews were rounded up in Warsaw by the Nazis and crammed into a tiny section of the city, behind seven foot high walls. This was the beginning of the “purge”, and Sendler knew that time was precious. As the head of the children’s bureau of Zegota, a social service program responsible for monitoring the threat of typhus in this newly established ghetto, she was given unlimited access by the Nazis in order to insure “sanitary conditions.”
What the Nazis didn’t realize was that Zegota was also the cover for an underground resistance movement committed to saving Jews from death, and Sendler was at the heart of this effort. From 1939 to 1943, using health inspections as an excuse, she entered the ghetto again and again with the roughly thirty volunteers she’d assembled, and smuggle infants and children out; in coffins, burlap sacks, tool cases, wrapped packages, and even beneath the floor boards of an ambulance.
And as parents entrusted her with their most precious treasures, Sendler asked for the names. For safety she fabricated new identities for the children, but wanted to make sure their original identities were not lost. She buried this list of names in a glass jar, under a tree in her backyard in case she was arrested.
In 1943, the Gestapo did finally catch Sendler. She was imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death. However she was able to escape, and went into hiding. As soon as the war ended, she dug up the jar, grabbed the list, and went to work trying to re-connect the children she’d saved with their families.
Irena Sendler understood that no one is guaranteed another tomorrow. She learned to be very focused on who she served, sacrificed, and loved. And she did so heroically. This is why she’s an example of the virtue of availability…for all time.
Nothing is more fundamental than relationships. Everything flows from them; life, love, meaning, and purpose. And the virtue of availability serves and safeguards this broad truth.
But availability is also strategic. It helps you understand your own limits and boundaries as you give to others, recognizing that the “good” can be the enemy of the “best.”
Our hurting world is full of people in need, people who are worthy of love, people who will pull on you. But attempting to be there for anyone and everyone, on demand, all the time, is pathological not virtuous. Thus, if you want to have the greatest impact you must make decisions about who most needs your time…and who most deserves your time. This may sound cold and un-caring to some, but it is reality nonetheless.
Availability as a virtue tells you that you must be able to say “no” in order to truly say “yes.”
Questions for reflection:
Is it difficult for you to say ‘no’ when people ask you for something?
Who models the virtue of availability for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of availability?
-Neal A. Maxwell
Do you know the name Irena Sendler? She was a social worker, a member of the Polish underground, and personally responsible for saving 2,500 Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
In 1939, 450,000 Jews were rounded up in Warsaw by the Nazis and crammed into a tiny section of the city, behind seven foot high walls. This was the beginning of the “purge”, and Sendler knew that time was precious. As the head of the children’s bureau of Zegota, a social service program responsible for monitoring the threat of typhus in this newly established ghetto, she was given unlimited access by the Nazis in order to insure “sanitary conditions.”
What the Nazis didn’t realize was that Zegota was also the cover for an underground resistance movement committed to saving Jews from death, and Sendler was at the heart of this effort. From 1939 to 1943, using health inspections as an excuse, she entered the ghetto again and again with the roughly thirty volunteers she’d assembled, and smuggle infants and children out; in coffins, burlap sacks, tool cases, wrapped packages, and even beneath the floor boards of an ambulance.
And as parents entrusted her with their most precious treasures, Sendler asked for the names. For safety she fabricated new identities for the children, but wanted to make sure their original identities were not lost. She buried this list of names in a glass jar, under a tree in her backyard in case she was arrested.
In 1943, the Gestapo did finally catch Sendler. She was imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death. However she was able to escape, and went into hiding. As soon as the war ended, she dug up the jar, grabbed the list, and went to work trying to re-connect the children she’d saved with their families.
Irena Sendler understood that no one is guaranteed another tomorrow. She learned to be very focused on who she served, sacrificed, and loved. And she did so heroically. This is why she’s an example of the virtue of availability…for all time.
Nothing is more fundamental than relationships. Everything flows from them; life, love, meaning, and purpose. And the virtue of availability serves and safeguards this broad truth.
But availability is also strategic. It helps you understand your own limits and boundaries as you give to others, recognizing that the “good” can be the enemy of the “best.”
Our hurting world is full of people in need, people who are worthy of love, people who will pull on you. But attempting to be there for anyone and everyone, on demand, all the time, is pathological not virtuous. Thus, if you want to have the greatest impact you must make decisions about who most needs your time…and who most deserves your time. This may sound cold and un-caring to some, but it is reality nonetheless.
Availability as a virtue tells you that you must be able to say “no” in order to truly say “yes.”
Questions for reflection:
Is it difficult for you to say ‘no’ when people ask you for something?
Who models the virtue of availability for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of availability?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Bach in the metro: The virtue of presence
“Presence is more than just being there.”
-Malcolm S. Forbes
A couple of years ago the Washington Post decided to conduct a social experiment in order to explore perceptions of, and appreciation for, beauty. First, they chose an unexpected place (L'Enfant Plaza in the D.C. Metro station) at an inconvenient time (a Friday in January at 7:51 in the morning). Then they asked a physically non-descript violinist to set up shop next to a trash can, and play. And play he did. For forty five minutes six pieces by Bach were performed for 1,097 unsuspecting commuters as they passed by.
But few paid attention to the young musician wearing blue jeans, a long white t-shirt, and a baseball cap. Nor did they seem to be moved by the beautiful music he played. Just another day. Only six people stopped for longer than a few seconds, and none for more than a moment. Twenty people gave him money but most of them barely broke their pace as they dropped what would amount to $32 in the open violin case. And when the man finished his concert, there was no applause and no recognition of the unique gift that had just been offered except for one woman who mentioned to the performer she’d seen him once before.
The violinist was the internationally acclaimed virtuoso Joshua Bell, playing a 3.5 million dollar violin made by Antonio Stradivari in 1713. Two nights before Bell had played this same violin for a sold-out audience in Boston.
Afterwards, the newspaper seemed surprised by the responses of the commuters. Even if the time and place were less than ideal, Bell was incognito, and his instrument underappreciated, they assumed the impact would be greater.
In fairness, I don’t know if the Post could truly judge whether or not the passers-by actually perceived and appreciated beauty. Maybe on the fly some of them did. But it was Friday morning and they were trying to get to work on time. They had real deadlines to meet, and probably not a lot of free time.
However, we do know that out of 1,097 people only 6 stopped for longer than a few seconds…1,097…six people…a few seconds. And if this many people can be overwhelmingly not present to something as wonderful as a Joshua Bell concert, regardless of place or time, what are the chances they’d miss something more subtle? A glance, a sigh, a quiver.
But we’d be different. We’d stop, and listen, and appreciate, and be present to the man and the moment. We’re “present” most moments, right? Everyday, as I watch people texting while driving, and updating Facebook statuses during meetings and lectures, and tweeting while on a date, I wonder.
And I’m as guilty as anyone. I constructed most of this essay in my mind while sitting in Church Sunday…during the sermon.
“Presence is more than just being there.”
Presence as a virtue is about emotional and spiritual space, not just physical space. Presence as a virtue is about being sensitive to what’s going on around you, and not just in you.
Presence as a virtue is about successfully resisting the temptation to make multi-tasking a way-of-being in the world.
Life is L’Enfant Plaza in the D.C. metro station on a Friday morning.
We are the early morning commuters.
Joshua Bell’s concert is the call to practice the virtue of presence.
Will we stop and listen to the music, and the message it carries?
Questions for reflection:
How could the virtue of presence make a difference in your life?
Who models the virtue of presence for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of presence?
-Malcolm S. Forbes
A couple of years ago the Washington Post decided to conduct a social experiment in order to explore perceptions of, and appreciation for, beauty. First, they chose an unexpected place (L'Enfant Plaza in the D.C. Metro station) at an inconvenient time (a Friday in January at 7:51 in the morning). Then they asked a physically non-descript violinist to set up shop next to a trash can, and play. And play he did. For forty five minutes six pieces by Bach were performed for 1,097 unsuspecting commuters as they passed by.
But few paid attention to the young musician wearing blue jeans, a long white t-shirt, and a baseball cap. Nor did they seem to be moved by the beautiful music he played. Just another day. Only six people stopped for longer than a few seconds, and none for more than a moment. Twenty people gave him money but most of them barely broke their pace as they dropped what would amount to $32 in the open violin case. And when the man finished his concert, there was no applause and no recognition of the unique gift that had just been offered except for one woman who mentioned to the performer she’d seen him once before.
The violinist was the internationally acclaimed virtuoso Joshua Bell, playing a 3.5 million dollar violin made by Antonio Stradivari in 1713. Two nights before Bell had played this same violin for a sold-out audience in Boston.
Afterwards, the newspaper seemed surprised by the responses of the commuters. Even if the time and place were less than ideal, Bell was incognito, and his instrument underappreciated, they assumed the impact would be greater.
In fairness, I don’t know if the Post could truly judge whether or not the passers-by actually perceived and appreciated beauty. Maybe on the fly some of them did. But it was Friday morning and they were trying to get to work on time. They had real deadlines to meet, and probably not a lot of free time.
However, we do know that out of 1,097 people only 6 stopped for longer than a few seconds…1,097…six people…a few seconds. And if this many people can be overwhelmingly not present to something as wonderful as a Joshua Bell concert, regardless of place or time, what are the chances they’d miss something more subtle? A glance, a sigh, a quiver.
But we’d be different. We’d stop, and listen, and appreciate, and be present to the man and the moment. We’re “present” most moments, right? Everyday, as I watch people texting while driving, and updating Facebook statuses during meetings and lectures, and tweeting while on a date, I wonder.
And I’m as guilty as anyone. I constructed most of this essay in my mind while sitting in Church Sunday…during the sermon.
“Presence is more than just being there.”
Presence as a virtue is about emotional and spiritual space, not just physical space. Presence as a virtue is about being sensitive to what’s going on around you, and not just in you.
Presence as a virtue is about successfully resisting the temptation to make multi-tasking a way-of-being in the world.
Life is L’Enfant Plaza in the D.C. metro station on a Friday morning.
We are the early morning commuters.
Joshua Bell’s concert is the call to practice the virtue of presence.
Will we stop and listen to the music, and the message it carries?
Questions for reflection:
How could the virtue of presence make a difference in your life?
Who models the virtue of presence for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of presence?
Friday, April 6, 2012
Heaven and hell: The virtue of hope
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.”
-Viktor Frankl
Dante, in his Inferno, wrote that the gate leading into Hell carries the inscription, “Abandon all hope, you who enter.” Indeed life without hope is hell. But can hope be found in the midst of hell? I’m talking about the here-and-now, in this world, and this life, in the midst of suffering, and pain, and despair that threaten to rob one’s life of meaning? Can hope be found when all that matters most seems lost, or in real danger of being lost?
To fully understand the virtue of hope, one must recognize that “hell” is actually the best place to find it.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Viktor Frankl described an intimate moment that speaks to this point. Early one morning he was marching with fellow prisoners inside the concentration camp of Auschwitz when he began thinking of his wife. He imagined her smile, her reassuring facial expressions, and a dialogue they might have if they were together. And he suddenly realized that whether she was in fact alive or dead, at that moment he was changed. He had connected with something transcendent, and the hope it inspired lifted him above the horror of his present situation and gave him a reason to go on.
Surrounded by death, Frankl discovered that which death cannot swallow up.
Hope is what makes life worth living. It is the virtue that confronts cynicism and despair. It is the anchoring conviction that there is meaning in life, and it is the force that urges you to find it…and keep finding it. But hope is more than this.
Hope is grounded in the reality that in the eternal battle of good versus evil, good will win. In the end, things will make sense. If optimism is lighting a candle in the darkness, hope is the knowing that whether the candle goes out or not the dawn will eventually come.
It may not look that way sometimes, in fact it may not look that way many times. And if one only considers the present state of the world, and passing circumstances, disillusionment and fear can set up permanent residency in the heart.
Bad things do happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people, and life is not always fair. Hope does not deny this reality, but it does challenge the belief that this reality needs to be final and ultimate.
Do you believe this? Do you believe in your heart that good is more powerful than evil, that love is greater than hate, and that death doesn’t have the last word? And are you moved to act? I pray you are.
Because the ongoing search for meaning and purpose is essential to being fully alive. It is only in this search that one finds reasons to hope, and thus reasons to go on.
Heaven and hell do begin in this life. Hope is the virtue that decides which one you’ll choose.
Questions for reflection:
Where do you find meaning and purpose?
Who models the virtue of hope for you? How?
What is one thing you can begin doing to practice the virtue of hope?
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