31. Origins of the Bureacratic Species, Part 2 of 5
Okay, this one’s a beaut. I suppose it had me from the very first line.
[If you didn't catch Origins of the Bureaucratic Species, Part 1 of 5, I invite you to first read that through HERE.]
Without further ado, I present the second, awe-inspiring episode of:
Origins of the Bureaucratic Species
by Marc A. Viola
Part Two – The First Bureaucrat
The first bureaucrat does not appear infectious, or even a threat, at the time. In fact, the arrival of the first bureacrat is actually seen as a godsend. This is someone who can attend to all the necessary details, and leave the founders to focus on their precious new baby. No one sees the arrival of a pathogenic vector or harmful toxin, but rather the means for developing order from the chaos. What few realize is that at this moment, the first bureacrat will herald either sweeping success for the organization, or its descent into mediocrity and eventual demise.
The first bureaucrat is usually an accountant, a chronicler, or secretarial assistant. This person will try desperately to track all the elements of the organization as it achieves critical mass and chain-reacts. If the organization were an astronomical feature at this stage, it would be a formless cloud of gas and stardust collapsing in on itself through the tug of gravity within each atom. In the instant a once-nebulous cloud ignites with the light of a new star, a self-sustaining organization is born. The job of the first bureaucrat is to catalogue every grain of cosmic stardust, account for every gram of collapsing matter, and measure the before, during, and after of the creation of a sun. No easy task, and not a task for just anyone. Only a person built for that that much attention to detail will suffice, so picking the correct first bureaucrat is crucial.
Every aspect of the organization will undergo inspection. The bureaucrat will not necessarily contribute to the life of the organization so much as observe it and keep track of its operation. In this sense, the first bureaucrat is not a source of income for the organization, and in fact, they may represent the first overhead cost, a salary expense to run the organization. This is also when the first bureaucrat will face their great temptation. In confronting the monumental challenges of all the tasks at hand, the first bureaucrat will face seduction by pride. This dark emissary of malignant narcissism will set into motion the initial cause of doom for the organization. The pact will focus around a single emotion: resentment. The more the bureaucrat resents the amount and types of work they must do for the founders, the deeper the bond with future bureaucrats will be forged.
The deluge of organizational detail will be overwhelming, but the first bureaucrat will succeed in making documented sense of a swirling milieu. The bureaucrat’s worth to the new organization will be incalculable. But, as the organization lurches forward in growth and operation, the first bureaucrat will not be enough. The organization will require an additional person, adding another overhead cost to be subtracted from total income. It is time for the first bureaucrat to divide into two. If the first bureaucrat has already submitted to the will of self-interest, the organization could be in exceptionally grave danger.
This is a critical time in the organization’s development for four reasons. First, the number of bureaucrats will increase by 100 percent in the mitosis that will yield the second bureaucrat, and potentially 100 per cent more in each subsequent cell division of the number of hired bureaucrats, if left unchecked by the founders. Second, the founders may be so busy building up the organization that they mistakenly shift decision-making for hiring future employees to the first bureaucrat. Third, no matter how well-meaning, the first bureaucrat will very likely hire new employees with who feel “safe.” Fourth, the first bureaucrat may be unaware of detrimental traits inherent in of a new hire, traits that may not appear immediately, but may manifest themselves in determining future hires. Traits present in the first few bureaucrats tend to self-replicate in a growing crop of new employees.
There is no getting around this progression. It happens in every organization’s birth and growth. Even if the selection of the first bureaucrat is flawlessly made, the risk reappears with every subsequent selection of a bureaucrat. This invariably challenges an organization’s ability to retain its original character and energy. The four cited steps (hiring more bureaucrats, hiring delegated to bureaucrats, expression of bureaucratic need to feel safe, and replication of undesirable bureaucratic traits) are critical because they will ultimately determine the lifespan of an organization. In addition, if the first bureaucrat lacks the capacity for humility, warmth, and nurturing in the face of chaos, or does not revel in the performance of their work, the shortcomings in their character will afford the forces of evil recesses from which to establish perpetual grip on the organization. This translates into the single-most precarious moment of organizational development.
All organizations come to decision forks along their developmental paths. A potentially disastrous milestone marks each fork if inattentive leadership permits modification of the original character of the organization. As I have said, it is in the organization’s infancy that its lifespan will be determined. The genius and energy of the founders must be involved in these early decisions; otherwise they risk deferring their responsibilities to a conveniently positioned, but unqualified, bureaucrat. There is a possibility that founders will choose their first bureaucrat wisely, and he or she will faithfully preserve their core ideals. That the first bureaucrat understands those ideals, and believes in those ideals, should be the immutable prerequisite.
Marc Anthony Viola
About the author: Marc A. Viola
Marc Anthony Viola is an intelligence professional pioneering the development and deployment of innovative technologies and tradecraft for the U.S. Intelligence Community for almost 20 years. He is best known for his work with Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) at such Intelligence Community (IC) agencies as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was the Director of MASINT Review for the Presidential Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, WMD.org.
An aerospace engineer, he expanded the scope of his interests into business, computer and information systems management, strategic intelligence, and national security studies. Viola is a visiting guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (formerly the Joint Military Intelligence College) for intelligence science topics. A former military officer, he served for almost 12 years in various U.S. Air Force intelligence positions before separating from active duty, then the reserves, and finally becoming a successful consultant. During his years in the Air Force, Marc Viola was privileged to work with, and for, members of, and organizations directed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Canadian Forces.
That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for the next thrill-packed installment of Origins of the Bureaucratic Species!
JUMP TO THE NEXT INSTALLMENT: LINK TO ISSUE 3 OF 5.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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30. Honoring Heroes of 9/11
Mike, a friend and colleague of mine from the counterterrorism realm, saw the Powerful Peace posts on 9/11 and sent a link to a photo album he took at the Pentagon’s memorial dedication this year. Please see the link at the bottom of this post. The album is very strong imagery of the unbeaten spirit of America and all the freedom-loving citizens of the world.
See the post here: Thank You, Mr. bin Laden.
George Orwell
In the photos, I would ask the reader especially to focus on the armed defenders on the roof. At this important commemoration honoring those servicemembers who lost their lives, we are reminded that to protect the innocent, some will always sacrifice rest and peace.
George Orwell described this best: “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
I say, here’s to the rough men on watch…as you read this, two hours after you read this, and for years to follow your reading this line. I’m here among them in Iraq, and I know well the payments they make for contentedness on the homefront.
May they find their rest at last.
See Mike’s album here: Pentagon Memorial Dedication.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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29. The Kindness of Strangers…in War
[Adapted from my monthly hardcopy newspaper column, For Goodness' Sake, in Front Porch magazine]
When I “broke my neck a little bit” a few years ago (the result of a less than optimal parachute landing), I underwent hip and spinal surgery that slowed down my hyper lifestyle…for a few days. To my dismay, friends and family began popping out of the woodwork to help me.
I had never had to feel dependent. I hated it. I felt sorry for myself – SEALs don’t quit; I wouldn’t be able to run the world for a few weeks. When I complained to a friend, he bawled me out: “You selfish (blankety blank blank)! Don’t you like to help people?”
Confused, I answered that yes, I do. He went on, “So you know it means a lot to help out, and it feels really good. And now you wanna take that away from the ones who love you the most!”
I quickly became a gracious receiver.
Acts of charity nourish the giver differently from, but equally to, the givee. When a person needs, the satisfaction of that need is a great relief. As a spiritual creature, the giver likewise has a real need met – an exercise of the heart.
Charity Done Right
I don’t know what is in the cheap plastic bag the little angel in this picture is holding. There are dozens more plump bags piled up behind her, and her broad smile suggests it contains something that she really needs. I suspect this is mainly basic foodstuffs.
Just today, while driving near the fence of our base here in Iraq, I saw some young ragamuffins walking outside the chain link. I wanted a photo of these kids (maybe we’ll use that shot in another piece), so I pulled over and stepped out. The four of them, aged six to ten and dressed literally in threadbare garments, began saying one English word over and over: “food”.
I tried to make light and asked their names in Arabic. Both boys were Mohammed. I didn’t catch the smaller girl’s name, and the eldest was a girl named Farijah.
I didn’t have any food. It’s a good thing, because I would have tried to pass it to them. That’s an offense against base policies.
Does that offend you, that it’s an offense? I’ll tell you why withholding food from these hungry children is a good thing in this twisted up, unnatural life called war:
If soldiers could give food to these four, more needy children would come. More soldiers would come to the fence, because soldiers are no different from the reader. They’re decent, caring American men and women – they want to feed hungry children.
One day, when the mob at the fence got big enough, an innocent but unusually portly little boy would come waddling up. A man nearby would make a phone call that would explode the boy’s hidden vest, ripping apart all the hungry boys and girls and the American soldiers with loving smiles.
The man would smile, say “God is Great!” and go show his friends the video.
This is why we have to take a fierce, wise stance to confront the complexity of conflict with the courage of warriors. I call it Powerful Peace.
Many, many courageous warriors are out among these people every day. Keeping a wary eye, brave Iraqi and U.S. soldiers and civilians bring big bags of rice and flour and hope to families like this girl’s.
She has a real need. I don’t know what group she’s from; frankly, my dear, I don’t give a (blank). None of us should. She’s a small child. That’s good enough for me, whether she’s Sunni or Shi’a, Arab or Kurd, Black, White, or Purple. She simply deserves a safe, nurturing environment, purely by virtue of being an innocent little human with an absolute right to life.
Please be mindful of these complexities today.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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28. The World in Iraq
[Adapted from my monthly hardcopy newspaper column, For Goodness' Sake, in Front Porch magazine]
Armed Turkish soldiers encircled me, the solitary American. They were moving closer, speaking in that mysterious language. I was only too aware that I had no weapon besides my own two hands. Suddenly, everyone paused as we heard the ferocious sounds of a running machine gun battle closer in toward Baghdad. That fight wasn’t far from my hooch, a half mile away….
Armed Turkish Soldier
This incident occurred a couple of months ago. It’s all true, but today I’m delighted to report that I am neither dead nor detained. I’m comfortably tucked in with a coffee and a keyboard, in fact. Please indulge me as I elaborate:
One of the best parts of moving around Iraq now is the opportunity to meet up with the numerous international forces comprising the Coalition. Over my 42 years I’ve lived in many of their countries (thirty-plus, at last count), exploring those cultures with the curiosity and enthusiasm of a small child.
In the early 1990’s, my stay in Turkey lasted a full year. (This was coincident with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but no, I won’t take credit for that one.)
I would drink chai in the tea gardens with my best friend Hayri. We spoke for hours about his father the Muslim cleric, the qualities of carpets in Hayri’s rug shop, and how horribly I had offended nearby little old ladies with my inadvertent mispronunciations. (Early on, Hayri had to hustle me off to different tea gardens frequently to escape the scorching glares of victims of my linguistic drive-bys.)
Years later I learned that Hayri had, like me, made his way into the military as a commando. He led a squad in southeastern Turkey against Kurdish fighters of the PKK, an organization that Turkey identified as terrorist. It’s funny how a preacher’s humble son from a small town would end up in that business.
It’s funny how people from across the human spectrum can come to be involved in violence against strangers. Our natural instincts to protect our “own” against dangerous “others” are expanded to include institutional us-vs.-them purposes.
Spetsnaz Commando Jumping, Throwing Hatchet
I once had hot dogs and beer on my patio with the head of Spetsnaz (Russia’s version of our Special Forces). We discussed how pleasant it was to not be enemies for the time being. We also discussed how, in the unpleasant case of international relations “going south” again, should we find ourselves face-to-face on a hillcrest…only the quicker would walk away.
Duty is like that.
Fast forward to this month and the Turks surrounding me. These Liaison Officers were friends of mine, at a “Hail and Farewell” party they were hosting for a change of staff. They had invited me and a variety of international colleagues; I enjoyed speaking Russian with the Ukrainian and Georgian, Turkish with the Azerbaijani and our hosts, some Arabic with the Jordanian, and English with the rest. I was unarmed, because at the time I was only working in the same palace as General Petraeus.
(This was in two different offices of the palace, you understand. Different floors, actually.)
It’s also true that, while these Turks surrounded me, we paused to listen to a running machine gun fight a half mile away…outside the base wall, but just barely. While our gathering represented the harmony possible among a dozen unlike nations, men were savagely killing each other within earshot. While the rage continued on those ancient streets, “micro-globalization” in one tiny trailer in Baghdad showed a flicker of hope for the future of this race.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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27. Origins of the Bureaucratic Species, Part 1 of 5
Et Voila…Marc Viola!!!
Now here is some writing worth reading!
For this one post and the four weekly installments to follow, readers of Powerful Peace will be spared some of my writing while a good friend, Marc Viola, intersperses some quality musings.
As promised, Marc will thus claim the mantle of the first serial Guest Author Contributor (GAC) of P2, and regular readers will likely hope that many more will follow…at least enough to fill the “white space” before the founder can!
Without further ado, I give you the first work of the new Sporadic Column of Authorly Talent (SCAT) known as Alpha to Zeitgeist, in Part One of a five-part series, Origins of the Bureaucratic Species:
Origins of the Bureaucratic Species
by Marc Anthony Viola
Part One
So where do talented individuals go to feel safe? What does it take to feel professionally engaged, fulfilled, and accepted? How will they know the right institution to go to, with the kind of environment that will take care of their particular needs that make them distinctive? Where does genius go when it is time to move on? It seems obvious that such people would not want to take their chances on yet another bureaucracy. Who could blame them? Intimidated by real talent, and desperate to protect their precious positions, the masters of organizational bureaucracies are the real threat to gifted individuals. From an intelligence perspective, then, it is important to identify the characteristic traits of the bureaucratic threat. Before being able to detect, locate, track, identify, and characterize this formidable system of intellectual destruction, it is perhaps important to first understand how it functions.
Let us examine this threat, up close and personal. Where does it come from? Who are its agents, and how do they organize, train, and equip themselves? How does their command and control function? Last, but certainly not least, why are bureaucracies such a threat to justice, domestic tranquility, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty?
In their defense, perhaps bureaucracies do not represent a completely toxic threat to human creativity. My apologies; I erred. What was I thinking? Let me rephrase that so that there is no misunderstanding as to my intent. Bureaucracy is the scourge of all mankind. If bureaucracy is a necessary evil, then let us agree that it is, in fact, evil. So where did this contemptible instrument of malevolence come from? Or more precisely, who let it in?
In what I call my “bureaucratic atrophy model,” I hold the view that every great organization is born virtually devoid of any bureaucratic influences. The first people who come together are the ideological founders. These people are do-ers, the subject-matter experts in their fields. These are the kinds of people with the rare qualities of inspiration, energy, and often intimidating creativity. These founders do not necessarily all get along because they are people of great passion and even stronger opinions. The energy between them feeds the process of creative development and eventually the organization achieves critical mass, and takes on a self-sustaining quality. As it takes on a life of its own, it is able to draw ever-increasing commitment and devotion from its members. The founders seek new talent to answer the pressing need for decisions, requirements, and tasks. A new organization has been born.
At this stage in its evolution, the fledgling organization is tiny, a loose alliance of a few individuals who gave life and gestation to the concept and delivered it to the world. In the philosophical view of a sage intelligence consultant and coworker of mine, the number of founders is perhaps always as many as, but never more than, five people.
“Every project comes down to only five people-who actually make it happen.”
-The Sage Consultant, 2006
This is a time of great enthusiasm and high aspirations in the organization. Creativity flourishes with new life, vitality, and hope for the future. As the concept for an organization forms, so to must the membership grow. The euphoria soon morphs into pressures to confine the organization to reality, to record activities, and track progress. Documentation, once a virtual afterthought, was ignored lest it get in the way of creativity in full flight. Initially, there is little need to document the steps because all steps are in a continuous process of change, experimentation, and refinement. Keeping track of this dynamism would waste time and energy that might otherwise go into creation. Once the organization starts consuming inventories and resources at frightful speed, keeping track of all aspects becomes an overwhelming concern. This is when the organization becomes most vulnerable to infection by “the first bureaucrat.”
Skunk Baxter
1. The analogy of bureaucracy to a viral life form was inspired by the author’s discussions with defense consultant and rock-star guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter in 2005.
[Editor: We're serious! Here's a photo of Jeff "Skunk" Baxter to prove it (how does that prove anything?), and an important link with the hopes that everyone should think so far out-of-the-box in the service of evolved counterterrorism for Powerful Peace. We are indeed a motley crew in the DC Beltway...and thank God for the diversity!]
Marc Anthony Viola
About the author: Marc A. Viola
Marc Anthony Viola is an intelligence professional pioneering the development and deployment of innovative technologies and tradecraft for the U.S. Intelligence Community for almost 20 years. He is best known for his work with Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) at such Intelligence Community (IC) agencies as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was the Director of MASINT Review for the Presidential Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, http://www.wmd.gov/.
An aerospace engineer, he expanded the scope of his interests into business, computer and information systems management, strategic intelligence, and national security studies. Viola is a visiting guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College (formerly the Joint Military Intelligence College) for intelligence science topics. A former military officer, he served for almost 12 years in various U.S. Air Force intelligence positions before separating from active duty, then the reserves, and finally becoming a successful consultant. During his years in the Air Force, Marc Viola was privileged to work with, and for, members of, and organizations directed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Canadian Forces.
That’s it for this week, gentle reader. Be sure to watch PowerfulPeace.WordPress.com for the next exciting episode of Alpha to Zeitgeist…coming soon!
…Oh – and my stuff, too.
JUMP TO THE NEXT INSTALLMENT: LINK TO ISSUE 2 OF 5
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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26. Juuuuust About There……………….. And a Reely Big Sheww!
A Major Award
Very soon, some lucky reader is going to be the big winner of the 2,000th click! Just think – years from now (or now, if it’s appropriate), you’ll be able to tell your grandchildren about the incredible moment you were the 2,000th clicker, ‘way back when Powerful Peace was brand new! (Just months before it became a worldwide sensation and everybody started doing it!) You’ll be able to tell them how you sat there, fingers trembling on the mouse…hoping against hope that you could be THE ONE!
Also, don’t forget to watch your monitors tonight for the grand unveiling of our brand new series from our very first serial GAC (Guest Author Columnist)! Here’s a sneak peek: It’s called Alpha to Zeitgeist, and tonight’s Very First Installment will be on the “Origin of the Bureaucratic Species“.
You will not want to miss this!
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
25. You’re Wondering Why You Exist
Powerful Peace is creeping up on 2,000 hits in just two months. Regular membership of daily readers is increasing, much to the delight of its staff; this simultaneously puts a boot in the seat of my pants to provide more regular concepts for this more regular readership! To those in this category, I thank you. Thank you for contributing to what I consider to be our site, while I refine my ability to make it worth your while.
[On that note, as an aside, I would encourage everyone to Comment frequently and reinforce the sense of "dialogue", rather than "lecture", which I believe is so important to our improved understanding of solutions in human conflict.]
[One more brief aside: I have a special treat coming tomorrow - our first serial Guest Author Columnist, or "GAC", will be posting his first installment tomorrow evening. Please sit on the edges of your seats until then; he's good!]
…Now back to our regular scheduled programming:
One thing you don’t see, looking in through the window of P2, is what shows up on our statistics trackers provided by WordPress here on the inside of the idea factory. It’s very, very interesting to watch these indicators. The number of viewers per day is illustrated, as well as per week, per month, and so on. It doesn’t stop there, though. For example, I see how many times a particular post is clicked, and the same for our internal links (like Dick Hoffman’s original article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
What appeals to me far more than these numbers, however, as an artist of the human experience rather than an accountant of the same, is the listing of “search terms” used to find Powerful Peace from outside our site. Would you like to know what pings I see there, as written in your own words?
One common search term is “peace“. It’s heartwarming to watch this steady current of Internet users searching for answers on this sublime, and elusive, subject.
Another is “solutions to terrorism“. I get a major charge out of that one. Inherent in the question is the evidence of another segment of society who, like we in the P2 family, understand that there are options. There is hope. I never see anything along the lines of “hopelessness of terrorism’s ultimate victory”. We just know that there is hope. Terrorism itself is not simply a large, impersonal fact that we have to accept.
Naturally, terrorism exists, and naturally, we must act in response – notice that I said “response”, not “reaction”. We act, proactively, to find solutions that reactive animals are incapable of perceiving. The fact of terrorism is not in the same class as, say, the fact of weather. We don’t control the weather; we can influence the societal topsoil from which individual terrorists (the real problem) are springing. We can examine that topsoil and discover what specific factors nourished each one’s growth to eventually inspire such a corruption of human instinct.
As I always acknowledge, we still have to shoot or nab the hardest cases among today’s terrorist population…but we can affect future crops at the source, and watch those children grow into doctors, teachers, and leaders of healthy families. [For a fantastic film illustration of a child's susceptibility to negative or positive influence, please watch little Dia's transformation into a bloodthirsty murderer in Blood Diamond.]
Another interesting search term I was surprised to see periodically is “the only easy day was yesterday“. For those outside the SEAL community, I would tell you that it’s a very specific reference to the very specific rigors of SEAL training at BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL).
I can imagine a small army of young, energetic men online, seeking to one day serve the world as honorable and heroic defenders. I picture the awesome potential in youthful optimism - and I am humbled to know that these young warriors can take my generation’s efforts to unimagined heights. Young brothers, keep the faith and follow that dream. Pick up that spear…and learn also when NOT to use it.
Above all, however, is the search term after which this post is titled. For some reason, and this will draw my attention for some time, the most common phrase that links to P2 is “why I exist“. That is absolutely fascinating.
That the question is asked so much by interested individuals on the Internet is very interesting. That it sends these same querents to our site – now that’s something special. Of course, we have a post by the same title…but I like to think there might be some deeper reason that people seeking meaning in life are drawn to the website for Powerful Peace.
The optimist prevails.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
24. What Good Are You?
What positive condition now exists, or will exist, in the world as a direct result of your own existence in it?
Pondering
Powerful Peace exists in its ideal as a broad, society-based agreement to serve for the general good. That’s why it’s “evolved counterterrorism”. (Terrorism depends upon grievance as its fuel – cooperation increases understanding and reduces grievance.) In the ideal, P2 is much more broad-minded than its author is in real life.
The opening question came up when I was accidentally introduced by Google to the online writings of a twenty-something in Montreal. We’ll call him “John”. I’ll be blunt: his material reminded me a lot of my own attitude at the same age. I didn’t like the reminder.
He seems an intelligent, talented…little boy. He seems to be wallowing in extreme self-interest and dissatisfaction with life. Topics include how life “sucks”, hangovers, and how screwed up the world is. If a young man with these gifts of life, wit, and energy refused to pity himself, he could do so much for those in actual need!
Technically, he’s a man. (In his case – and my own, back then – I consider this to be a designation in name only; an inevitable side effect of time’s passage on a male child’s body.) In my opinion, being a Real Man does far exceed many of the narrow assumptions we might see on the subject such as: Real Men make a lot of money, Real Men can drink a lot, Real Men treat women like doo-doo, etc. However, while the title isn’t limited to either brutes or gentlemen, I feel strongly that being a man does involve an obligation to bring some value to the world.
Is that old-fashioned, or simply a perennial truth?
Service to others satisfies a deep, real need in the human spirit. Self-service runs counter to this unseen imperative, and compounds with each decision to take, take, take…until even the urge to help one’s fellows is drowned out by the din of self-justification for taking at the expense of others. In the end, a state of genuine confusion is the reward – the young (or old) man (or woman) has been choosing to work against the current of his (or her) very own spirit’s urging.
“What is the meaning of life?” is recorded as a concern for individuals of many generations. Have you noticed that it’s not asked by those who serve? They never even perceive the question in their hearts, because it’s unconsciously answered, a step at a time, through their lives. They lack this confusion.
The good news is that this problem is an example of compleksimplicity in all its glory. There is nothing tricky about service. One tiny act (picking up a candy wrapper, or respectfully greeting a homeless man) opens a crack in the stoniest heart to try it again. (If you’re embarrassed about picking up a piece of litter at first, do it when no one’s watching.) As much as selfishness is a habit, selflessness is likewise habitualized by baby steps.
I won’t write to John, the boy whose misery I witnessed through the help of Google; he wouldn’t hear me. I know I wouldn’t have listened to an old fool like me.
What good are you?
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
23. 9/11/01 (Thank You, Mr. bin Laden)
Achilles died.
We’ll get back to that in a moment.
A few years ago, while I was still in uniform, I had what is called a “bad landing”. That’s what happens when a SEAL gets into an airplane just fine and jumps out of it just fine, but then experiences a less-than-optimal reunion with the earth.
The surgeon sliced into my throat and shoved my trachea, esophagus and artery out of the way so he could dig a damaged disk out of my spine. Earlier in the operation, he had carved a piece of bone off my left femur to fashion a disk-shaped chunk. This was now inserted as a replacement in my spine. He capped it all off by screwing a titanium plate into the vertebrae above and below the new disk, then zipped up my throat.
When the entire production was finally healed, it was exactly as the surgeon had promised: the neck was not only good as new, but stronger than before. With those two vertebrae fused into one, there is a negligible reduction of flexibility and a reinforced structure. I could take the same fall better now than with my original neck.
Achilles died.
Again, we’ll get back to that in a moment.
Osama bin Laden is no Superman. His image may now be more familiar to us than those of many of our greatest presidents. No matter. He is a living myth, blown up by the real affection of a handful of admirers and an unreal mystique to millions who are awed by the attacks accomplished in his name.
Osama bin Laden gets diarrhea. He has uncomfortable and embarrassing gassy moments, and he sometimes gets a little booger on the outside of his nostril. How do I know this? Because he’s human. When I teach “thinking like the terrorist”, I urge listeners to put our adversaries in perspective. To esteem him unrealistically is to self-inflict intimidation. It’s to give weight and energy to his cause, to the detriment of our own. They’re only guys, guys.
Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda inadvertently acted as a surgeon on the spine of the world. They cut into our throat in the hopes of finding the jugular to kill the patient.
They failed.
Before I “broke my neck a little bit”, my neck was natural and average. After the surgery I was sore for some months of healing. In the end, my spine was technically (but not noticeably) less flexible – and much better able to survive trauma similar to what had caused the original damage.
After the “operation” of 9/11, the patient (the world) was sore for a few months of healing. The patient was uncertain about the future and the prognosis for recovery. To the unacknowledged disappointment of the surviving attackers and their McQaeda franchises worldwide, the end result is the same. The attacks did not kill the patient. This operation steeled a spine.
Achilles is known for having been a great Greek warrior, invulnerable except for a small spot on his heel. During the replayed footage of today’s memorials, I heard one commentator’s original remark from that day that terrorists had found the Achilles’ heel of America. This was an inaccurate analogy.
Achilles died.
America and the world, however, are stronger than ever before.
Thank you, Mr. bin Laden.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
22. Marching into the Inferno
I’d never seen that before. Seven years after September 11th, amid all of the news coverage and local memorial services, I watched some footage today that showed dozens of firefighters who raced from nearby towns and nearby states to clamber out of their trucks in full protective suits some blocks from the disaster site of the Towers.
They clambered out of their trucks and learned that one tower had already collapsed, and that the other was likely to follow. Then they turned as one, without hesitation, and marched into the Gates of Hell to save innocent lives.
My God….
Thank you.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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