Words that caught me: O is for Optimism
And you’ve been captured by the enemy.
You
are not only a prisoner of war,
But also
someone with valuable intelligence to your captors.
You
don’t know if you’ll be rescued,
Or when
the war will end.
You
don’t know how long you’ll be here.
You
don’t know if you’ll get out alive.
You
don’t know if you’ll ever see your loved ones again.
You
don’t know if you’ll ever live a normal life again.
To
all that uncertainty, add the pain of torture!
What
do you do? What choices will you make?
This
is the exact situation Admiral Jim Stockdale found himself.
We
know about it because he came out alive, to tell his story.
How
did he do it? What was his secret?
“I never doubted – not only that I would
get out – but also
that
I would prevail in the end
and
turn the experience into a defining event of my life,
which,
in retrospect, I would not trade.”
Asked
“Who didn’t make it out?” he replied,
“Oh,
that’s easy, the optimists.
…the
ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’
And
Christmas would come, and Christmas would go.
Then
they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’
And
Easter would come, and Easter would go.
And
then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again.
And
they died of a broken heart.”
“You
must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—
which
you can never afford to lose—
with
the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality,
whatever
they might be.”
Stockdale
told his fellow POWs, “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”
I
tend to think we are swimming on a similar boat here,
Trying
to make sense of what’s happening
And
getting worried and anxious by the many unknowns.
This
is a good time to build on our mental strength.
We
must not allow ourselves to lose the faith that we’ll prevail.
But
we must also not delude ourselves with false optimism.
We must face the brutal facts...
This
is going to be a long drawn out war.
There
will be casualties.
There
will be psychological and mental breakdowns.
There
will be social and economic upheavals.
Anticipate
it. Accept it. Deal with it!
You
can start by doing this to lift your mood,
and
then you try grabbing at these outcroppings to pull yourself up.
Admiral
Jim Stockdale was a POW for 8 years.
He
came out walking with a limb.
We
too shall come out…even if walking on a limb!
*This
post was inspired by Dan Rockwell.
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