"Do Nothing that is of no Use, Pilgrim."

There is a great quote, attributed to John Wayne. It goes like this;

“Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.”

Sometimes you can make a big statement in a few carefully chosen words. This is not something that I am very good at, as those of you who read my posts likely already know. However, this week I am not going to do the talking! In the spirit of John Wayne's wisdom, here are ten of my favorite quotes from some of the historical figures I admire most--in ten words or less!

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” 

- Haruki Murakami 

“Do nothing that is of no use.” 

- Miyamoto Musashi

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

- African Proverb

"No great thing is created suddenly."

- Epictetus

“Always get over heavy ground as lightly as you can.” 

- Duke of Wellington

gnōthi seauton “Know thyself.” 

- Socrates

“Success is how high you bounce when you hit rock bottom.” 

-George S. Patton

“Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance” 

- Sunzi

“A good commander is benevolent and unconcerned with fame.” 

-Sunzi

We are still Savages

The Craigosaurus Rex

“You said it, Chewie. Boy, where'd you dig up that old fossil?”

--Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

The other day, a colleague of mine and I were having lunch. This particular individual is a gentleman whom I enjoy speaking with, not only for his intellect but his wit as well, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

The conversation turned to recent events in the company’s history and how they were moving to adapt. From there the discussion become one of ethics and values (as it often does when I am conversing with intelligent people), to which I said this:

“America was founded on the principal of ‘rugged individualism.’ That anyone can be anything they want to be, as long as they work hard and make the right decisions. Unfortunately that has evolved to a point where ‘hard work’ and those ‘right decisions’ come at the expense of other people.”

I explained;

“An example; when I was a kid, and someone new moved into the neighborhood, my mom would bake cookies and shove us out the door so that my sister and I could introduce ourselves and welcome the new family to the area. Now, when my wife and I bought our first house, nobody brought cookies. Occasionally someone would walk by and point at the house as if to say ‘Oh look, Maude. Someone bought the ole’ Johnston house.’ But nobody stopped by until we had cause to be in the yard at the same time, or pulling into the driveway at the same time. It may have been a month before we met any of our neighbors.”

I went on:

“We have lost our sense of community to the ‘everyone for themselves,’ mentality. Communities take care of each other, help others when they are low, bring them cookies when they move in. Now we look for ways to improve our own standing, often at the cost of others. Rather than owning up to their mistakes, people look for someone to throw under the bus. We have lost our honor, and we have lost our sense of what is right. We have lost our sense of how we fit into a society, or into a business or into the ‘big picture’ period. Instead of ‘women and children first’ we are all pushing each other out of the way for the last live preserver on the Titanic. 

My friend looked at me and said, “Wow. That is really an antiquated view of things in this day and age. You are kind of a dinosaur.”

We all know what happened to the dinosaurs, right?

To me, we have taken this sense of individualism and brought it full circle. Once this method forged greatness in America. This notion had us revered and respected in the world. We were tenacious, we were tough... We did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, and to hell with the consequences or anyone who thought differently. Somewhere along the line that train go derailed. Now the ‘right thing to do’ is the right thing for us, and ‘to hell with the consequences for anyone who gets in my way.” Here we are again, but instead of “everyone for themselves,” we have contractual loopholes and legalese to take advantage of others weaknesses. 

I understand the warrior’s ethic to win the battle at any cost. But I also know that the warrior’s purpose is to protect, not to steal and pillage, and that the need to ‘win at any cost’ must be for a just and noble cause, rather than for personal gain.

I am a dinosaur.

For if given the choice between injuring someone else for my own gain, and my honor. I will choose my honor.

When we continue to victimize others to support our own social position or lifestyle, when we take the “everyone for themselves” viewpoint...

We are still savages.

The Limits of Virtue

Tyrtaeus was a Spartan poet, known for his works from the Second Messenian War. It is almost hard to imagine a Spartan with a poet's soul, but when one reads the lyrical verso of Tyrtaeus, it is clear to see that this was a poet with a warrior's soul.

The poet writes; 

"You should reach the limits of virtue, before you cross the border of death."

While it is probably safe to assume that Tyrtaeus was speaking of death on the battlefield, I want to put it out there for those of you reading in a lighter context. 

We are only hear for a short time.

What legacy will you leave behind in your business life as well as your personal life? Will you "reach the limits of virtue" or will you succeed at any cost... including your own values and ethics? Will you redefine your values or ethics to accomplish your task?

It is important to remember the people who get us where we are. Our employees who work for us. Our families who sacrifice for us when we work those long hours to get the job done. How do we treat them? What would they say about us as employers, and does it matter to you at all?

It seems to be more and more difficult to take the high road these days. Yet, Spartans are still revered today. Almost three thousand years after his death, we are talking about a warrior and his ethics. What will your descendants be saying about you in three thousand years? 

We are still savages.

Lost are the Ways of the Warrior

Friends,

It is time to stop with the emotionally charged responses to the ongoing plague of violence in this country. All the statistics, all of the cliché arguments do nothing, and I mean nothing to solve the problem. The media tells you what they want you to hear, and shows you what they want you to see. Our political leadership turns the names of the victims into weapons to strike at their opponents.

Make no mistake; there is no amount of legislation that is going to make this problem go away. The solution does however lie in the capable hands of “We, the People.”

In this installment, I am going to express to you my frustration with both sides of the gun argument, and where I feel the problem with our mass killings really lies.

Let me begin with who I am:

Me teaching a firearms safety class.

I am a warrior, descended from warriors. I am a former United States Marine, an outdoorsman, gun owner and enthusiast. I am even a National Rifle Association certified instructor. One may assume from this statement that I am part of the “Pro-Gun” camp.

My six children have never fired a gun. They have never played with toy guns. Firearm replicas were never allowed in my home. It has only been since my oldest daughter turned sixteen that we have begun the process of learning firearms safety. My children are not allowed to watch violent television programs (I can count on one hand the number of episodes of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” they have seen).

do not believe in open carry, I believe in background checks and age requirements. I guess one may assume that from this statement I am in the “Anti-Gun” camp.

Here is where “the middle” expresses itself. All I ask, is that you take the time to read this through to the end, and judge when it’s over.

To the “Pro Gun people, I say this;

Please. Just. Stop.

That "Certain Demographic."

Without fail, every time there is a firearms related tragedy, the first thing that follows are a rash of loud emotional ejaculations from a certain demographic. While, their educated and well spoken face is the National Rifle Association, the more common one is a stereotypical caricature of the red blooded American, posting in all caps on social media “They can have my gun when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!”

Sadly, these posts come across as uneducated and ridiculous as the cartoon characters who misspell them all over the internet.

As a responsible gun owner, these are the last people I want representing me or “fighting for my rights.” These are not representative of me and the majority of gun enthusiasts I associate with, yet I find myself again and again counted amongst them, because of their outspoken hyperbole.

Gun enthusiasts are not, uneducated simpleton masses.

Yet over and over, Facebook, Twitter and other online outlets produce ludicrous statements that others will blindly repost as truth. These arguments are irrational, and illogical, and do about as much good for the gun rights cause, as a thimble would when bailing out a sinking ship.

What is worse is that these kinds of people profess to represent me.

It is one thing to say something that makes you sound stupid. It is another entirely to include me in that stupidity. These are direct quotes that I have seen on the internet, spelling and all!

“Mass shootings have been around forever. Back in the day we had flintlock rifles. It took longer, but still.”

What?

This would be a "flintlock mass shooting."

Flintlock rifles were used in mass volleys, not mass shootings! It took a skilled rifleman close to a minute to reload a long rifle! During that time his enemy had the ability to beat him to death with a club, tomahawk or even a tree branch. Not the same thing as an AR platform rifle with a thirty plus round magazine! Not even close!

“Might as well ban spoons, they make people fat. Might as well ban tires, because cars run over people. Ban swimming pools, they drown people.”

At least this statement I can applaud the attempt at using consistent reasoning while comparing apples to oranges. Of course, wheels were designed to facilitate movement, spoons for eating without making a mess, and swimming pools for getting wet. A firearm is, on the other hand, a machine specifically designed to launch projectiles at extremely high velocity through flesh with the intent of killing a target. Be it for food on the table, or in defense of one’s life, killing is the purpose of the firearm.

“Guns are just tools.”

Me, using the "tool" to kill some paper.

Yes. Tools designed for killing things. I believe I have already established that.

“More guns in the hands of law abiding citizens, is the best deterrent against these guys committing these mass shootings.”

I could not disagree with this statement more. Currently in most places, the NRA “Personal Protection Inside the Home” course is all that is required to obtain a concealed carry permit. There is no standard for qualification with a handgun that I have ever seen in the last twenty years. A few hours of lecture and putting five holes in a paper plate at 7 yards and you too can go about strapped.
Two years ago I attended a gun show in Tampa Bay. I was treated to a person outside the entrance, clearing a pump shotgun with the barrel pointed at my head so closely that I physically pushed it out of my space. While I was there I observed people walking around with handguns in their pockets, small children holding pistols while riding on the shoulders of their adult, and a twenty something with greasy blonde hair sauntering about twirling a six shooter on his finger like Johnny Ringo in the bar scene from Tombstone.

This experience did not fill me with a lot of confidence. These are the people who carry every day!

Even those who are safety minded and want to be responsible can be problematic. An October 3rd article on Guns.com articulates my reasoning far better than I could have said on my own. Author Jeffrey Denning, divides shooters into four categories:

The Unconscious incompetent shooter is described as “a shooter who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.” Someone who might “immediately tune me out when he realizes I am suggesting he change his technique.” Denning says in his article, “My guess is that even if I videotaped these types of shooters, they still might not have a clue what they are doing wrong, because in their mind, they can’t be wrong.”

The Conscious incompetent shooter is “much more self-aware,” Denning says, but goes on to say “that doesn’t mean, however, that this person is destined to become a good or even a decent shooter.”

The Conscious competent is self aware and has developed competent shooting skills. They understand what they are doing right or wrong and what it takes to make fixes.” Most shooters, says Denning “drift between type two and three.” He plainly and accurately states that “Repetition is all law of learning,” and that these shooters “know that improper repetition can create bad habits.”

Finally, Unconscious competent shooters are skilled tactical and technical shooters, “who have the right mindset” and have “put in the work many times over and can now perform single or multiple actions during a lethal confrontation.”

As a Marine, I had to be able to disassemble and reassemble my M16 A2 service rifle in seconds... while blindfolded. I spent hours “snapping in,” in the dust of Camp Pendleton. We drilled daily, over and over with our rifles until our actions became muscle memory. I learned to shoot with iron sights at two, three and five hundred meter distances. I earned the “expert” marksman badge every year I qualified during my enlistment.

Truer words have never been spoken...

With all of my handguns, rifles and shotguns over the years, I have made a point to have the same familiarity with all of them.

How many concealed carry permit holders can say the same thing? How many have purchased a weapon and put it in their holster or in their purse and never take it out and use it? How many have invested in tactical shooting instruction? How many really know the capabilities and limitations of their weapon? I know that the circumstances I would be willing to engage in a firefight would be different if I was carrying my Smith & Wesson .380, or my 9mm Glock.

More guns in the hands of unconscious incompetent or even conscious competent shooters is not a deterrent. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

Finally, to all the Pro Gun crows who supports open carry I say this: Open carry is not the world I want to live in.

On July 16th of this year, a lone gunman opened fire on an Armed Forces Recruiting Office in Chattanooga, Tennessee leaving four of my fellow Marines dead, along with one Naval Petty Officer. In the wake of this event, armed citizens took it upon themselves to “defend our defenders” under the rallying call “Freedom.”

“Freedom?”

These fine warriors took an oath to defend this country against all enemies foreign and domestic. They did this by travelling to distant lands that many of us only see in pictures of children

clutching AK 47’s while standing in front of bomb ravaged buildings. Many argue that we “fight the enemy on their ground, so we do not have to fight them on ours.”

Guess what. The enemy has won.

Because now, I see pictures of my own country with people draped in the American flag holding their AR platform rifles in front of bomb ravaged buildings. Freedom indeed. We look just like these “third world” countries we profess to be superior to.

Scary Weirdos Guarding Recruiters.
What the rest of the world sees when they
 see "Americans."

What is worse? The ones doing the “Freedom” stuff gaining international attention (That’s right, folks... this is the news that is broadcast around the world.) are idiots wearing kilts, and long underwear to these events! To be honest, I do not fear my daily trips through “the hood,” nearly as much as I fear the idea of running into these ass clowns!

Now, to the Anti Gun people I say this: Please. Just. Stop.

Your emotional overreaction to

these tragedies is equally as disgusting as the ignorant ranting of your opponents. Your righteous indignation is just as illogical and inane as the Pro Gun coalition. The knee jerk reaction to enact gun control measures will accomplish precisely zero in the short term, and even less in the long run.

Banning firearms: Making guns illegal will not stop criminals from committing crimes with guns. The idea that it will is so beyond fantasy, that I cannot formulate a metaphor that will do it justice. Making things illegal in hopes of solving problems has been tried and has failed repeatedly in this country.

First we tried with alcohol during the 1920’s. Prohibitions failure did not stop the U.S. Government from trying again in 1971 with President Nixon declaring “War on Drugs.”

Alcohol is now legal.

Drugs are just as prevalent now as they were in 1970.

Firearms are so prolific, that their accessibility would be virtually unchanged. Even if we were able to successfully eliminate all firearms sales and manufacturing, the resulting black market would fill the void without skipping a beat. The demand is already there, and there are plenty of suppliers out there eager to meet it—legally or not.

On August 11th of this year, ATF agents in Blytheville, Arkansas charged 70 individuals with illegal firearms trafficking.

In South Texas, 22 individuals were arrested in an operation that had young housewives purchasing over 200 AK47s for illegal transfer to Mexican gangs in February of 2012.

September of 2007 saw 12 suspected drug dealers, 59 illegal firearms and $187,000 worth of narcotics taken off the streets in Savannah and Chatham Counties in Georgia.

Guns are not going away. If you have stayed with me this far in hopes of reading some sort of profound solution to this catastrophic failure in our society, well, here it is.

This problem is not going away in our lifetime because we have strayed from the path. This is a cultural problem, not a gun problem.

We are a society ruled by our emotions. The entirety of my post to this point has been a direct reflection of our When I look at the tragedy, when I look at the grief, especially having tasted it myself many times, I realize that we are a nation of cowards without honor.

For when we are hurting, when we are wronged, we lash out at others making them hurt, and avenging ourselves often inappropriately.

Often we avenge ourselves on those who have done us no wrong, or wished no ill upon us. Our media bombards us with these stories— normalizes this behavior. Our social media perpetuates it, inspires others with it. Were we a culture of warriors, this would not be so.

“True Warriors have no reason to be cruel. They do not need to prove their strength. Warriors are courteous even to their enemies. Warriors are not only respected for their strength in battle but also by their dealings with others.” 
Bushido—Rei.

The hope for a solution lies in you and me teaching our children the warrior values. Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota Sioux once said; “I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right.”

Red Cloud

This is done by showing them love and respect. We cannot expect our children or our youth to respect us if we do not respect them, and we cannot respect our children or our youth if we do not first respect ourselves.

It is our moral and legal obligation to set boundaries and provide structure for our young people to grow and develop. We control their environment to allow them to safely take risks and get hurt enough to learn the important life lessons. We must teach them that it is okay to lose, and that everyone does at some point—but that they don’t have to like it.

It is important for us to let our children experience pain, and loss. These things are inevitable and unavoidable. Recently, a tragic event took place in which one of my young son’s friend was swept away by a rip current and drowned. My son was born just a few weeks after the death of his sister, thus he never met his sibling, but knew that she had been a huge part of his family.

He knew she was dead, but the understanding of the permanence of death escaped him. While he and I were processing this experience, he suddenly realized that his friend was nine years old, and that he was nine years old, and that his sister had been nearly nine years old when she passed. At nine, my son became aware of what it means to be mortal.

Because death is inevitable, and because of the deep wounds it causes, learning to deal with death and loss is just as important as proper medical care is to the healing of any physical wound. We must teach our young to honor all life, and that indiscriminate killing only leads to a dark place.

This is a forgotten value that spans all cultures. The Abrahamic religions God said to Adam and Eve, “Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground,” but did not instruct them to be cruel or inhumane.

The Holy Prophet of Islam has said "Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself."

The Creed of the Buddhist Shaolin Temple ends in the words, “For all life is precious, and cannot be replaced.”

My Native ancestors did not kill indiscriminately, but utilized every part of the animal for their survival. There was a deep reciprocal admiration for the animals, for the plants, and for each other. The great Lakota shaman, Sitting Bull stated very eloquently;

Sitting Bull

“Every seed is awakened and so is all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our animal neighbors the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.”

When we respect ourselves, and we respect life, and when we learn to respect that spark in others, we have returned to the way of the warrior. Being a warrior is not about inflicting damage on others. It is about protecting ourselves and our own.

When we have the mindset of protecting ourselves and our own, we will develop the skills and tools necessary to do so. With our increased proficiency, comes an increase in confidence. With our increased confidence comes an increase in our self-respect. When we have self-respect, we find it easy to respect others. When we respect others, we do not seek to harm them, even when we ourselves may be mortally wounded.

Violence is a reality. We are a long way from returning to the Warrior Culture of dignity, honor and respect. I hope to instill these values in my children. I hope they will instill those values in theirs. I hope to cause through my children, the ripples to expand across our society and eventually restore the warrior ethic. If I can leave nothing else for my children and those youth I have worked with over the years it is Meiyo—honor.

We have lost our sense of honor. Honor no longer drives a person from actions that bring shame to themselves, their family or their name. These mass shootings are the quintessential example of dishonor—the blatant slaughter of innocent men, women and children without cause or justification other than to wound, and then shamefully taking one’s own life, robbing the families and loved ones of any hope of answers, closure or justice. 

Violence is a reality, but nonviolence is another path.

Nonviolence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings... 

we are still savages. 

The Lions and the Sheep

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

-Alexander the Great

What separates me from those who work for me and even along side of me is this: 

I am a leader. I am responsible for the outcome of this mission. 

I am tired of other people dictating to me who I am and what my performance is. Only I can determine how I will respond to pressure. Only me. I am responsible for the outcome of this mission.

My statistics don't lie. 

My people are good people who want to do good. 

If they see me falter, they will fail.

I cannot be the sheep leading the lions. I must be a lion leading the sheep.

We are still Savages.

From General Mattis to the General Workforce

“I don’t give a damn about the officers. If they don’t like what they’re doing, they can get on a plane and leave the Corps — go back where they came from. But I do care deeply about those 18- and 19-year-old Lance Corporals out on the frontlines.”

This quote comes form one of my Marine Corps heroes, the legendary James N. "Mad Dog" Mattis. Matts has never been one for mincing words, and his leadership style is just as forthright. 

As a manager, I believe the same applies to my "troops." They may not be Marines, but they fight the good fight every day in the trenches. Often they don't get paid nearly what they are worth, and put up with disrespect, verbal abuse and occasional threats or intimidation from our clients.

As managers it is our job to lead. It is our responsibility to give our staff someone to follow. If we can't or won't do that it may be time to go back where we came from. Treat your employees well, and they will live up to your expectations! Don't, and well...

We are still savages.

The Logic of a United States Marine

The recent discovery of my biological family has been an incredible journey. In the months ahead, I expect I will tell my story. There are a lot of pieces, and the very fact that I am here to tell you about those pieces is nothing short of a miracle. God’s grace. Providence. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. In order to tell the story however, I need to ensure that the details are correct. Until then, I would like to share with you another story. This story is one that I found by scouring through papers that were left for me about my family. 

It is the story of my Grandfather, who I have the honor of sharing a birthday. My Grandfather who was also a United States Marine. My Grandfather, who was also apparently, a smart man as well as a smart ass.

The following is a direct line by line retelling of the story as told by my Grandfather Weldon Spradlin, complete with his misspellings and typo’s. I think it is brilliant.

Spradlin's Company MCRD San Diego 1955

While in the Marine Corps I found it necessary to learn a good deal about military law. During the time I was training troops, I found it necessary to bend the rules on occasion, therefore I sometimes found myself afoul of the law. While this caused me no end of concern, it did inhance my education.

"The first time I found it necessary to learn about law I was charged with Willful Destruction of Government Property, to the specifications that I did order my troops to bury their rifles, order my troops to pour water over the graves until the ground was muddy and order my troops to run back and forth over the graves until they were obscured. For this I could have been sent to prison for twenty years.

I was guilty as sin.

I could find no military lawyer who would say he could win the case so I took out a copy of the UCMJ (uniform code of military justice) and a copy of the MCM (manual for courts martial) and went to work. I was able to get a delay to allow me to prepare and for the next two months I spent all my time with my nose in one of the books. Then we went to pre-trial.

After two day of presentations the prosecution had even me convinced that I should be bound over for trial. Then it was my turn. I called my only witness whom I shall call Pvt. A, because I can’t remember his name, and ask him the following questions:

Q. Pvt. A do you know what this is? (I held up a rifle)

A. Yes sir, that’s a U.S. rifle, caliber 30, M1.

Q. How long would it take you to field strip this weapon, wipe it clean and put it back together, blindfolded?

A. About 30 seconds Sir.

I then set up a table with the rifle on it, blindfolded him and had the court time him while he did so, in less than 20 seconds. I then addressed the court. 'Gentlemen of the court, the defense moves for dismissal. It should be obvious that the troops I have trained are of the highest caliber, there are few men in the world who can match what Pvt. A has just done. I also submit the record of the platoon on the firing range, of seventy fife men in the platoon all have qualified at least as marksmen, over half are sharpshooters and the had the highest number of experts on the range when they shot for record, and they shot with the rifles I am charged with destroying. It is true that some small damage may have been done to the rifles because of the methods I used in training, however, the demonstration you have just seen plus the records of these men on the firing range surely proves the ability of these troop to repair any damage done to the rifles. Furthermore it is evident that the cost of any damage done to the rifles has been more than offset by the value of improved proficiency of the troops. If this court believes that rifles that set records on the firing range have been willfully destroyed then you must hold me for trial, if not then you have no choice but to dismiss the charges.'

The charges were dismissed."

Spradlin "Keeping Watch" for his Honor Platoon circa 1955

Semper Fi, Grand Dad. 

We are still savages...

...and looks like we always were.