Train for resilience

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To capture a reader's mind, it is best to tell a story. On June 3, 2017, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered an electrifying commencement speech at his son's ninth-grade graduation from Cardigan Mountain School, which is insightful, striking, and believed to be necessary and applicable not only to aspiring adolescents but also to adults. The following is a paraphrase of his words, intended to encourage the young audience; you can watch the recording on YouTube.

In essence, Chief Justice Roberts said that he hoped that they would be mistreated from time to time so that they would come to understand the value of justice. He mentioned that he hoped they would experience betrayal, as that would teach them the importance of loyalty. Apologetically, he hoped they would occasionally feel alone and isolated, so they would not take friends for granted. The justice spoke of wishing them bad luck from time to time so that they would appreciate and be aware of the role of chance and probability in their lives, and that success and failure in life are essentially a common thread in humanity. He advised them to embrace losing and experience the glory of an opponent, so that they would learn the value of humility in sportsmanship. He emphasized the importance of listening to others, noting that it is best understood when ignored. Finally, he told them that to learn compassion, he hoped they would feel discomfort. The justice wrapped it up by saying that these are all inevitable human experiences, and that learning from them will greatly depend on the type of character one has or needs to develop.

Resilience

The commencement address by the chief justice highlights the importance of resilience in our lives and is a refreshing message that is modern and relevant. The ancient stoic philosopher Epictetus tells of the accomplishements of Hercules and explains to us in his discourses on providence that the only reason why Hurcules was able to live up to the name is precisely becuase he was given opportunity and situations to demonstrate his hurculean strength and vitality against such opponents and threats like a lion or bear or deadly basilisk and men who sought his life (Adler, 1952, p. 111). The myths and tales of the ancient Stoics, along with the sharp words of encouragement from a Supreme Court judge to his sons' graduating class, offer valuable insights worth recalling.

Challenge the common denominator

Scholars tell us that if children are exposed to opportunities early in childhood where they must forgo rewards and expectations, or, as Averill et al. (2018) describe, moments where gratification of a want is held off, they promote resilience, self-control, and regulation of their behaviors. Although no one would expect kids to have to grapple with a hungry lion or an angry bear, as the mythical hero Hercules did, the speech the justice gave to the young graduates was an essential element in preparing them for life's challenges and stressors.

Stick around or bail?

The author's father was a pipe fitter and welder for a major oil-producing company, British Petroleum, in Texas. Stories about safety and danger at the "plant" were part of his vocabulary. One time, it is recalled that the author's dad had a new crew coming onboard in his section, and he would tell the new crew, since he was the supervisor, that if anyone saw him running towards the gate, they would be too late. He was referring to his innate abilities and years of experience, and his ability to sense danger, which had occurred a few times during his career. He knew the inherent risks involved in the volatile process of refining crude oil and making plastics and fuel. If the reader is astute, one may remember the Gulf of Mexico disaster a few years ago, which was subsequently made into a movie starring Mark Wahlberg, called Deepwater Horizon. These were some of the types of environments that the authors' father worked in.

Additionally, scholars inform us of the biological hormonal response to stressors in our world. One can imagine that a thousand years ago, the primary stress response was survival. As humans, we woke up and searched for food, water, and shelter, and did our best not to be eaten by a hungry pride of lions. Today's stressors are particularly significant for youth, including the passing of exams, fitting in with their peer groups, and managing bullying. By contrast, adults face the life stressors of those who are gainfully employed, balancing their professional responsibilities with their personal lives (Averill et al., 2018). Either way, whether we are running away from something that is trying to eat us or trying to pay bills and perform well at work, the body reacts with the same hormones.

Briefly, the fight-or-flight system of the sympathetic nervous system is responsible for helping the body prepare for survival situations. It has many hormones involved to help us flee the scene for safety, primarily the hormone that causes the heart to race and helps the heart muscle contract more forcefully is epinephrine and its close twin, norepinephrine (Averill et al., 2018). These are normal responses to a perceived impending peril, and there are other biological processes to help bring the fight or flight response back to normal levels once the body has responded to the situation or if the threat to one's survival has dissolved. However, when these situations are elevated in the body from chronic response to perceived threats, such as chronic stress, the incessant stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system can cause unwanted symptoms of anxiety, fear, and in some situations, post-traumatic stress (Averill et al., 2018).

References:

Adler, Mortimer J. (1952). The Discourses of Epictetus. In The Great Books of the Western World. (Vol. 12). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Averill, L. A., Averill, C. L., Kelmendi, B., Abdallah, C. G., & Southwick, S. M. (2018). Stress response modulation underlying the psychobiology of resilience. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0887-x

Is anyone immune from the winds of circumstance?

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When I feel the pains of trials, I turn to God and the comfort of the scriptures. However, in my youth, I did not have a believing faith, as the writer of Hosea put it, I was a "half-baked cake and mixed in with worldy influence (Holy Bible, Hosea 7.8).

As a youth, growing up in the Gulf Coast near what is called by some as Hurricane Alley, we fled once from a category three hurricane that had landfall in and around Galveston, when we returned I remember seeing debris, trash and the remnants of Texas gulf coast flooding from the rain and the powerful storm surge. The image of sailboats, recreational watercraft, and the enormous gulf shrimping boats on land in the middle of the freeway leading from Texas City to Galveston was unbelievably drastic, as if a heavenly hand had picked the ship from the harbor and transported it to the highway. The Gulf of Mexico and its powerful ocean currents during hurricane landfall can move large pieces of waterborne vehicles, a sobering reminder of the forces of nature that we cannot control. Additionally, the damage caused by buildings and homes with roofs flying apart due to accompanying tornadoes, often spun off from hurricanes, underscores the unpredictability of these natural phenomena.

I recall seeing where a building once stood, specifically the concrete foundation. As a kid, I used to work in a bait house that is no longer where it used to be; the salty waters of Galveston Bay have claimed the building and are now part of Poseidon's kingdom. The only remains of the often-visited bait shop are the column stilts in the sandbar, which previously held a robust fish and bait shop and a tackle store.

Storms of Life

Sometimes, I refer to commentary to add depth and understanding to scripture from scholars more versed and studied than myself, a practice that I have only recently learned to appreciate the humble value of exposition. A deeper look at Hosea from the commentary by Lloyd J. Ogilvie reveals an emphasis on the theme of the ancient Israelites during a time when they relied heavily on the financial resources in the land, namely Egypt and Assyria (Holy Bible, Hosea 7.11). Instead of relying on God to supply and provide, and during times of distress or trial, they cried and wailed in their beds instead of seeking out God through prayer and meditation (Ogilvie 110-111).

I pause to take a moment to interrupt a train of thought, because I feel it is important to mention, and I believe that is how God works sometimes in our lives. When we search him out, he gives us clues, hints, and signs. Upon reading more of Lloyd J. Ogilvie's commentary on the book of Hosea, I was struck by his reference to John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. The theological mind is of particular interest to me as I learn, and I am also interested in the reason for the reference to Steinbeck's work for the commentary on Hosea. To gain a deeper understanding, I read an excerpt from the book, which allowed me to learn more about the attitude of the fictional character, Ethan Hawley.

Erosion Kills a Man

Ethan Hawley faces difficulties; the challenge is that he was reared in a well-to-do family, and is now in dire straits and working as a grocery store clerk. As he speaks in the story, the work of sweeping, stocking shelves, and providing customer service is beneath him. Ethan, struggling to pay his mortgage and worried about caring for his wife and children, feels disempowered working for someone wealthier than him, when he believes he should have owned a prominent business. It appears that Ethan is losing heart.

As the story broadens, Ethan and a local banker engage in conversation that provokes Ethan's irritation. The banker, aware of Ethan's family heritage and acquainted with his father's business acumen in the past, is surprised by how Ethan's cynicism and display of no desire to strive, is apathetic, void of enthusiasm for work, and has not accepted a temporary financial setback. The banker tries to pick up Ethan's spirits, saying something similar: "It is not all lost. Just start over and change your attitude." As it is, Ethan responds to the bankers remarks that it must be easy for him to suggest to another to overcome a hard time in life since he himslef has not had to grapple the same obstacle and that a man does not fall or succumb to failure from a direct hit; instead, what brings a man down is slow deterioration (Steinbeck 13).

Although sometimes we are hit with trials that can immediately cripple us, such as a family death, a job loss, an unexpected illness, financial hardships, or, as mentioned before, natural disasters, we are often slowly worn down by life itself.

I can identify with Steinbeck's fictional character, Ethan. The elements that can erode the spirit of man are common to all and are familiar and recognizable: the rains of vanity, the gusts of materialism, the tides of our backgrounds and life events, as the commentator of the second epistle to Corinthians expounds, discussing Paul's description of his life challenges in spreading the gospel (Tasker 76-77; Holy Bible, 2 Corinthians 4.17). The highly intense thermo effects of lust, compounded by the relentless abrasive rubbing from the sands of anger, along with the debris and scraps of overindulgence, envy, and laziness that slowly, consistently, little by little eat away at and into the fabric of a man, can cripple his external being.

The similarities and contrasts between the Israelites in Hosea and their apparent reliance on other nations for support, rather than God, and John Steinbeck's Ethan, prompt reflection on our own life and situation in the absence of genuine dependence on God.

As a Christian, I reflect on Jesus' parable about sowing seed (Holy Bible, Matthew 13.22), which represents the type of ground that has thorns growing in it. God desires to plant his spirit in a person. One type of soil where God plants in the heart of men is a kind of ground that has allowed thorns and briers to grow up with the good seed of his spirit, but as the two grow together, the robust thorns and thistles suffocate or choke out the good seed.

The analogy here is that the spirit of God and his teachings are planted in the heart and mind of a man, but the thorns and briers of greed, the strangling vine of envy, the roots of lusting after the world, and the budding flowers of life's worries drown out the God-spirit-planted seedling. Like a vapor that fades away, a Christian's commitment and faithfulness to Jesus' teachings are tested when adversity strikes, and this has been my experience.

Earth Trembling

Unlike Texas hurricanes, living in California, the ground often quakes and trembles. One is familiar with the fluctuations and movement of the ground, especially in Southern California, which includes Los Angeles and its surrounding cities, towns, and districts. The Northridge earthquake in 1994 was felt as far south, as San Diego county, at the time where I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, I was awakened at the time, by a fellow Marine shaking my bunkbed to wake me up for something, to my surprise and everyone else, however, we all were startled by the early morning movement of the squad bay by the trembling of the ground, that was over just as quickly as it began, although felt for more than a hundred miles away in Oceanside the epicenter and surrounding builidngs, structures and landscape in the San Fernando Valley suffered catastrophic damage that left people with out necessities for weeks, and took years to rebuild and recover. Similar to the devastating effects of hurricanes in Texas.

Fires of Life

We are prone to anual fires as well, recently this past year we had terrible fires that devastated areas of surrounding towns of Los Angeles, although tragic and devasting is the loss of personal property and the dispersion of people from their homes, what I see when reading the paper or watching the news, and is common in most of the images after the destruction of what was left are the same images burned into my memory as kid living in Texas and arriving back from evacuation to see what was left are the ghostly, permanent, almost immortal resilient slabs of impenetrable concrete foundations and it is here that I will conclude my thoughts on a lasting foundation.

Foundations

Recently, in our country, we have seen and experienced, at least online and in the news, and by extension, personal accounts through associations and relationships with individuals impacted, the devastating aftermath of natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, floods, and earthquakes. The events are tragic, and for those who live in those areas, picking up the pieces is trying and will leave long-lasting scars emotionally and physically.

My thoughts are with those who have been affected, from fires and floods to earthquakes and tornadoes, and words cannot comfort those who have lost loved ones; they will fall powerless in the face of grieving eyes and mourning ears. Although I try to shine the light of God's guidance, I hope it seeps through.

Jesus ' teachings serve as a foundation for us to remember and live by. He often used motifs, such as the image of building a house that stands firm even when storms come (Holy Bible, Matthew 7.24-27). The apostle Paul also described how our earthly bodies are prone to decay, but if we do not give up or lose heart, we can look forward to eternal life (Holy Bible, 2 Corinthians 4.16-18). However, we may feel outwardly worn down, like Steinbeck's despondent Ethan. We can relate to the Israelites and believe that our material possessions are of the utmost importance, but with faith, we know the spirit that God places in our hearts will last forever, as he takes care of us.

Works Cited

Holy Bible. New International Version, Cornerstone Bible Publishers, 1999.

Ogilvie, Lloyd John. The Communicator's Commentary. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Vol. 20, Word Inc., 1990.

Steinbeck, John. The Winter of Our Discontent. The Viking Press Inc., 1961.

Tasker, R. V. G. The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977.

Teach, learn or leave

 

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Arriving at two scores and ten, the older I grow into my genes or jeans, the more I contemplate the brevity of life and discover myself numbering the days left on the calendar, which is healthy to do. Now, when I utter the words that I communicate through writing and evaluate the possibility of a personal literary work, I have thought thoroughly about what I want to say. 

If you read others' works and struggle to adapt their styles, while observing and taking note of their writing processes, namely the structure of it, with the begining being an introduction and trying to capture the readers attention, then followed with the meat and potatoes followed by a recap, this is standard writing of which the elements contain in at least good writing your are not alone. Academic writing typically consists of the same components, including methods, tables, graphs, and charts, followed by a discussion, limitations, conclusions, and recommendations for further research.

Blog writing, on the other hand, has no set structure beyond the writer's preference. Why? Because it is not peer-reviewed, nor is it submitted to the rigorous requirements for published writing. That is why it is called blogging and precisely why I have an affinity for blogging. Although I occasionally attempt to maintain some structure in the blog writing process, I am at liberty not to conform in this way, and the joy of breaking rules and the freedom to write as one wants is a welcome relief.

Although I would never recommend writing a piece and claiming it as your own without recognizing and crediting source material and following the rules against plagiarism, which is increasingly becoming more challenging with the proliferation of language learning applications and the availability of AI, for instance, I follow the APA guidelines solely regarding those to whom I must give credit and to avoid plagiarism at all costs, which is considered literary trespass and author burglary especially if I ever seek to be guarded as a respectalbe writer, as it is now my bloging is strictly a place for the practice of writing, sort of like my gym time, daily training to stay in shape is blogging: staying in writing shape.

The reader of this blog will be disinterested if forced to digest these words. That I aim to write like the great literary geniuses seems preposterous. The least of my attempts is at best a virgin imitator and an unpracticed writer. I am probably a fool for taking the advice of a former professor who encouraged me to keep writing-pipe dream?

The numerous authors of the works I have combed over, from deceased poets and ancient Greek intellectuals to modern-day scholars in the social sciences that I have attempted to read, often leave me feeling hollow and thirsty. Still, they do encourage me to grasp and read a little higher than my ability. Literature that lacks soul-nourishing words is like reading the fine print of a guide for instruction on a piece of technological equipment, which is helpful as a resource but does nothing for a person's spirit. That being the case, that is my point.

I am ashamed that I was uninformed and delinquent for so many years before my formal education, although most of my education was skills-based training. It was not until my bachelor's studies that I was exposed to a more liberal approach to the theoretical nuances of complex healthcare delivery. My informal, nervous exploration of the reservoirs of knowledge has opened my eyes and helped me interpret the world around me, allowing me to make minor improvements in my knowledge and character development. Trying to further my current understanding is a sobering reminder of how lightweight my education is; rather than being substantial, it is paper-thin.

But I love the process of learning, and as such, I have been dissecting Joe Moshenska's insightful biography of John Milton, Making Darkness Light (Moshenska). The Latin phrase 'doce disce aut discede', found at one of the schools where John Milton studied, as used by one of the school's founders, who had it displayed on the walls of the building, translates to: 'teach, learn, or leave'.

I confess that I am not a teacher; at the bare minimum, I am a sharer, and I will never be credited with instructing, cultivating, or enlightening another human being. However, I can share where good teaching originates, and that is the home.

The Bible and William Cowper are referenced often in my home. They should be possessed and then all of the excellent writing of our time from Homer, Plato, Lucretius, Augustine, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Pascal, Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Tacitus, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Milton, William James, especially his Varieties of Religious Experience which are canonized in the The Great Books of the Western World, these and others should be attempted with humility and courage by all.

Additionally, one should have on their shelf topics in psychiatry, psychology, disease processes, and medicine, as well as the plethora of spiritually inspired texts available for study, including commentary and other scholarly works, for quick referencing and frequent investigative browsing.

Furthermore, two recommended reading lists are strongly endorsed. The first is the recommended reading list, which continues to grow and can be found online by searching for Douglas Jacoby, who has compiled a growing bibliography. The second is the Commandant's Professional Reading List, also available online.

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I want to write for others and convey what needs to be said to benefit and uplift the reader. Therefore, whereas others have attempted to address topics of vulnerability in their writing style, I shall adopt a modest and self-effacing approach, building on where others have left off.

The reader must be made aware. I esteem those writers who have braved and navigated the turbulent literary waters of complex and abstract ideas and principles. But, again, I will refrain from contributing to the abundance of available knowledge to produce a prosperous life. Subject matter experts who aim to increase your financial nest egg or help you lose weight and achieve your best physical health by adding to the inundated treasury of words with unproductive rhetoric would misuse my strength and misplace my competence.

However, I recognize how difficult that will be as an unlettered and unpublished man. Nevertheless, some authors have inspired me to do the same and endeavor to accomplish a writing task, albeit an obtuse goal. Therefore, whereas I shall write the lettered piece of my liking, I will write, in fact, the words I want to read and, perhaps, contribute, in my assessment, and with humility, perform such a task where others have done so incompletely.

At this point in my journey, I have come up short of discovering that elusive text waiting on the shelf I have always wanted to read. After years of turning ink-filled pages and reading treasured words, with a sense of emptiness following such laborious scanning and research, I still find myself thirsty for more. I must write something, I most eagerly and desirably want to read. Before my time is through, I shall do it. The brief segments and chapters of my novice and unsofisticated literary exercises are what you are reading. Inside them, I want to tell a little of what the world is like and how I experience it.

There are, of course, pieces of work that I have yet to read in other literature, mainly nonfiction, and my current knowledge base of different ideas and theories is limited and incomplete. In the absence of such novel and or perhaps antiquated concepts, I should consider what I might like to say when delivering a message to help formulate my thoughts by considering up to the point what I know or reflect on what current, albeit limited, knowledge I possess.

First, what has genuinely not been done before would appear, at the minimum, a conjecture; that would be impossible to estimate, as I have regrettably not read all that has ever been written. Nevertheless, I have acquired a humble library of knowledge that informs my thinking. 

Let us consider, as an introduction, Stephen Pressfield's writings; three of his unsophisticated books, "Do the Work," "Turning Pro," and "The War of Art," collectively have an extraordinary force on the reader. His unfeigned ability to articulate and describe, as evident in his definition of overcoming resistance, enables him to write and express words easily.

Furthermore, his work captures the thoughts orbiting the idea of prevailing over life's adversity. And quite briefly, he adds commentary on what he has covered in his prose thoroughly; I suspect it would be a wasted effort on my part to attempt to embellish what he has already produced. I would only be reiterating his writing. He happens to be, and I want to bring to attention his veteran status, as he is also a product of the brotherhood of Marines.

It has been my experience, perusing the shelves of our local brand-name bookseller and online, that what appears to be hanging from the branches of the publishing industry tree are the low-hanging fruit of the self-help genre. In addition to the self-improvement subtype of nonfiction, a plethora of other personal empowerment literature exists. 

You can feast on philosophical, religious, and spiritual compositions and dive deeply into the social sciences. The abundance of published literature from the health and wellness cognoscenti is also accessible. With multifaceted intelligent flavors, you can strategize, philosophize, and exercise your mindset, behave your way to a name it, and claim it life.

Moreover, some books, such as the "look-at-me-now" titles, are strategically marketed and positioned to capture the reader's senses. Or consider the nicely bound manuals and guides in the business section on how such an individual, famous or financially savvy and connected, accomplished Warren Buffett's financial independence. Then we have a buffet menu of personal empowerment variety to meet your how-to demands! They include, but are not limited to, pursuing your passion and achieving the physique of a fitness model, or taking a course to earn financial freedom, as I mentioned before. 

Finally, to help you fill your pockets and stock your cupboards to overflowing, various options are available as long as you subscribe to an email list or take a course with the many experts on standby. You may be familiar with the successes of a noteworthy film actor, actress, or fitness model, and have discovered their New York Times bestseller. Suppose you follow their methodology and approach their tactics systematically. In that case, all one has to do is subscribe now to the opportunity, making a small donation equivalent to three months' rent, and we can achieve a reproducible success story. 

These are old-school telemarketer strategies camouflaged in new technology on our smart devices and computers. It is evident and commonplace, especially in the podcast sector today, to employ motifs of the motivational "horse and carrot" strategy. By luring subscribers, creators seek to secure a monetary commitment, stuffing their pockets and lightening yours and mine. The user often receives a free downloadable e-book and is encouraged to enroll in courses taught by the author or architect. And, as mentioned earlier, geared to help you, again, achieve your best self now through online virtual courses, more often than not given by their followers and devotees. A hint of multilevel marketing with a new theme comes through if one is astute.

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Of course, how can one forget to mention the prominent celebrities' subtle, sublime, and captivating book covers? Included among them are now, since 9/11, celebrity heroes, who are stockpiling in the ranks, on the shelves right next to the Tony Robbins of our time, with their most unique battle-tested soldier stories wrapped up and bound on recycled paper. They aim to win you over with Jujitsu techniques, marksmanship instruction, stealth mode, and night vision concealment tactics, so that you can overcome the enemy within and without with the precision of special ops as they coach you on becoming a business, fitness, or family warrior and how your resilience will manifest in your favor if you apply their techniques. Victory is guaranteed, all the while capitalizing on their cash cow and printing paper faster than you can say "the only easy day was yesterday". All will submit to your might and foremost importance; you will possess the courage and force of William Wallace himself if you put their training into action, maybe at least theoretically.

But, lest I forget, and to refrain from standing on a soapbox, not all books are self-help; you can learn how to cook like the Iron Chef and prepare meals that would make Wolfgang Puck quiver at your kitchen table. And with the unlimited how-to books, anyone can learn anything at any time, with limitless information available.

Notably, the spiritual genre and the sections in religion and philosophy are not immune to the industry's antics, I suspect. In a market designed to sell books, those collecting dust on the recommended reading list that do not sell are a poor business model, regardless of the genre. Likewise, books that fail to capture and engage the emotions and senses of unsuspecting readers are a terrible business. 

Although I consider this, I consent and do not find fault with the methods of printing the written word, although I believe it is a secret society accessible only to those in the inner circle. Who would fault someone seeking to derive monetary benefits from consumable marketing items, such as books? That is the genius of a free enterprise market and capitalism; just as car manufacturers are in the business of selling cars, great publishers need to sell books to keep the printers rolling.

Nevertheless, and by the same token, I do not fault a writer or author for being compensated for their work. Monetary compensation for the distribution of an author's work is prudent, but the onus for my writing is not motivated externally in the hopes of financial reimbursement. Actually, and quite honestly, in the hopes of removing the hard-to-connect attributes of distant writers or the more famous authors, as I am a commoner, the motive for writing is to help serve and meet the needs of another traveler on our shared terrestrial globe.

Works Cited

Moshenska, Joe. Making Darkness Light: The Lives and Times of John Milton. Basic Books, 2021.