One of my favorite entrepreneurs, Joe Kraus, wrote a great post about faith and realism.
Joe quotes a book where a prisoner (James Stockdale) in the Hanoi Hilton is being interviewed at lunch about the eight+ years of torture and hell they went through. Stockdale says:
“I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
He then goes on to discuss how it was the optimists that didn't make it out... the ones who said they knew the plan... that they'd be home by Christmas, then Easter... then... they died of broken hearts. So this post got me thinking this morning about how to reconcile faith with realism.
I had an opportunity a few years back for lunch with my boss, Fred Cherry, another prisoner in that same camp. What I couldn't understand was how Fred, who is one of the calmest, most gentle men I know, could get through that ordeal without losing all faith in human nature.
I'm paraphrasing here, because it was several years back. But I remember Fred saying something like this:
There were plenty of awful things that happened. But there were plenty of very human acts as well. We all learned from each other. Anything anybody knew, everybody wound up learning.
So I guess I see some messages of reconciliation there. Have faith. Don't pretend to know the plan. Hate the awful behavior, but love the person, and appeal to their conscience... we all have one, no matter how deeply buried it may be. Be prepared, be realistic, be ready, act appropriately, proportionally. Do what is required.
Thanks, Joe, and Fred. Good message for a Sunday morning.
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