Leadership 101: TURN, TURN, TURN

[ROFCB Commander 664]

Today is Day Sixteen of the twenty-day "Leadership 101" series I'll be posting. This series expresses my thoughts on some topics important to the successful leadership of a local unit, and asks other unit leaders to post their thoughts, ideas, and experiences on the same subject in hopes that together we can help those who are starting from scratch with unit-building.

 

Today, like events in our country, we TURN, TURN, TURN.

 

This will be, again, a slight departure from the overall theme of this series in that it isn't going to give "do this, don't do that" instruction. Instead, it's designed to provide something you'll need a lot of in the next few months and years; peace of mind.

 

That's a rare commodity these days, and even more so for people who choose to do what we're doing. After all, it is in many ways our job to raise the alarm, to run around screaming that the sky is falling, to prepare for the worst. In all honesty, our groups do better in times of trouble; recruiting is up, more people respond to our messaging, and the climate in general becomes more oriented toward propelling us to growth and success.

 

That's too bad, really. It's unfortunate that we thrive when the country is doing so poorly.

 

Nevertheless, that's the reality. Psychologically, this takes a toll on all of us. The constant barrage of negativity that we're subjected to, and that we have to parrot whether we want to or not, leaves us too often drained, feeling hopeless and helpless, angry...just generally off balance. And as Mr. Miyagi (look it up) reminds us, "Whole life have balance, everything be better".

 

So this post is designed to help you restore balance--not just now, but any time you're feeling like the worst of it is taking you on and taking you down.

 

In the late 1950s folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger wrote a song that was subsequently turned into a #1 hit by the Byrds. The song was "Turn, Turn, Turn" and, oddly enough, the first eight lines of the song are based on verses from the biblical book of Ecclesiastes. In fact they are taken almost verbatim, just slightly rearranged to make them more singable.

 

The original text is attributed to King Solomon, who is widely esteemed for his wisdom. The point of it all? That there is a time and place for all things:

 

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain that which is to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time of love, and a time of hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

For me, the entire section lays out perfectly what we so easily forget; that throughout the history of mankind, all things come and go. Good and bad, righteous and evil, famine and plenty, birth and death--all things have their place, their purpose, their season. We often remember Hitler when we think of World War II; we close our eyes and see visions of the evil he perpetrated. It is much more difficult to recall the good that came out of it, not only for people of that generation but for mankind as a whole. How important was the strength and resolve of Winston Churchill (who before that time was little regarded as a great leader, and in fact faced terrible scorn and ridicule at various times throughout his career leading up to the war)? How amazing was the transformation of America into the absolute machine of invention, manufacturing, distribution, and even homeland infrastructure building that it became on such short notice? How vital was the patriotism our grandparents displayed, coming together in these ways and forever becoming known as "the greatest generation"?

 

At the time, I'm certain they felt enormous uncertainty. I'm sure there were devils on the opposite side within our own country, decrying their efforts, offering their usual negativity, painting the entirety of the world with doom and gloom as only they can--and many Americans hearing and believing them. And yet we prevailed, grew stronger, grew better as a nation and as a people. The world, too, grew stronger, better. Make no mistake; America was in so many ways the catalyst for that.

 

During the American Civil War, times seemed dark indeed. It appeared by all measure that we would lose the Union, and in fact for a short time the United States as it had been (and as we essentially have it now) ceased to exist. But the Civil War period gave us Abraham Lincoln, who never wavered in his conviction that the country was and must always be one nation. In fact the only official time he recognized the Confederacy as a separate nation was when he admitted West Virginia into the Union as it's own state; it had, until that time, been part of the state of Virginia (then part of the Confederacy). Lincoln believed we were undergoing internal strife, but that we were still all one nation--a family, merely experiencing the squabbles of a couple of brothers. Now Abraham Lincoln lies within the pantheon of amazing historical figures, but again, in his time he was ridiculed, roundly laughed at and disrespected by many of his contemporaries. And we all know what happened in Ford's Theater.

 

Times appear dark, just as they have many times throughout history. But to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven. History tells us that our strength and resolve in these dark times will lead us to brighter, greater times ahead. We all worry for our children, and rightly so. But could it be that these clouds and this rain we see now are merely there to water the soil and allow a great and bountiful crop to grow?

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A time of love, and a time of hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

It may be that this is the time of hate, which will turn to a time of war. But as we rend, our progeny will sew, and as we hate, they will love.

 

I would rather it be me who faces the bad times, so that my son and daughters can enjoy the better times that lie ahead.

 

These are the words that should get you through the darkest of it, no matter what the "it" might be. The world, the political climate, mankind turns. We are turning for the worst right now, perhaps, but it's only so we can turn for the better later on.

 

To everything, Turn Turn Turn,

There is a season, Turn Turn Turn

And a time to every purpose under Heaven.

 

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Look at the kids in that video. Those are our parents. Maybe, some of them are us. We are now the front line against the evils that are trying to destroy, trying to rend, trying to hate. Yet we stand, we American Patriots. Things were troublesome then, too...yet here we stand.

 

Turn, turn, turn.

 

Tomorrow - "Duty Bound"

Edited July 29 by ROFCB Commander