Waiting patiently for the end of the story.

Many of you know, I grew up on Air Force bases. I ran down those streets, swam in the NCO pools and hung out at the Teen Centers. For a large part of my youth, we were at war. Daily death counts came in from Vietnam. Protests raged across our country. Many of us wore POW wrist bracelets. We hoped our prisoner would come home alive. This morning, I learned more about a man who suffered as a POW – Admiral James Stockdale. I vaguely remember hearing his story before. But this morning, he and his story caught my attention. Here are some quotes so you have a feel for this man. 

·      Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers.

·      The challenge of education is not to prepare a person for success, but to prepare him for failure.

·      Do the right thing even if it means dying like a dog when no one's there to see you do it.

·      The guy that just arranges things so that the stock market holds up is nobody in my - in my estimation.

Go read about him at this website: https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/

Why did he and his story catch my attention this morning? Because we are prisoners in our homes right now. Okay, not like Admiral Stockdale was. We are not in the Hanoi Hilton and I won’t degrade his story with that level of comparison. BUT I will not degrade your story by saying that your present suffering is any less real and painful to you.

We are suffering and you might even be on the verge of depression, anxiety or just giving up. And it doesn’t help any of us that we see the tribal infighting over leadership and communal decisions. It doesn’t help any of us that we are bombarded by “medical pundits” in the form of our next-door neighbors espousing their views on opening the economy and conspiracy theories. We are in a state of turmoil and confusion no different than the days I lived on those Air Force bases. 

At this point, you might be saying – well golly gee whiz . . . thank you Dale for pointing out how bad it is . . . you pushed me deeper toward that pending depression. If you are saying that, STOP. You will miss my point if you live there. Admiral Stockdale survived. It was brutal but he survived. Our country survived Vietnam. It was brutal but we did. We will collectively survive as well. But your individual survival requires that you do something to avoid giving up, to avoid depression and to push through this. You must say “to hell” with the voices from your Hanoi Hilton guards and “to hell” with the voices from the surrounding villagers taunting you with their negative pundits about the demise of America. Listen to the Admiral Stockdale’s in your life. And if you can’t hear them, look for their footprints and get within hearing distance. They are moving forward. They are not looking backward. 

Last week, two of the companies that I have the privilege of being part of received PPP funding. The negative villagers are screaming across social media about all the companies that did not get the help. 

·      They say it went to illegal aliens. Wrong. The forms and the verifications that we submitted would not allow that. 

·      They say it all went to big companies. Wrong. We got it and we are small fish. 

·      They say it is a “bailout” implying that we should be ashamed for applying and accepting. Wrong. It is our tax dollars advanced to us to save our companies, help our people and survive. We will pay it back through survival.

·      They say it was hard. Damn right it was. You had to be prepared. 

·      They make it political. Wrong. It is people. It is their very existence and survival.

So how and why were we prepared. Two simple reasons. We worked hard. And we had intervention that cannot be explained beyond belief in something greater than any one of us.

The hard work part -- well, I can personally tell you that it took lots of it. The files on my computer are evidence. I retyped two forms at least three different times. I memorized intricate data and details that will never be needed again. I read that damn act and its regulations. And every minute invested in that work was gladly done so we could receive those funds and be stewards of those funds to help those relying on us. But it is not the “I” that made this possible. Without a doubt, I know there are forces moving that are greater than me. Call it Jesus. Call it God. Call it the Big Eye in the Sky. Call it whatever you want to call it. I have my own name and know my view. How do I know? . . . 

Two or three years ago, a man showed up at our office doors – let’s call him Banker Bob. He wanted to see if he and his bank could help us. Banker Bob was the brother-in-law to a man who had been a part of group that years before had made decisions that seriously impacted my life in ways that I felt were neither fair nor good. Let’s call that man Painful Paul. Hindsight will probably prove that the impact was good. But at the time, the pain was harsh. For me mentally, it was crushing. But I pushed on believing that good would come. 

Back to Banker Bob, I wanted to dismiss him and send him on down the road. But I did not. I decided he was not Painful Paul. So, we began talking. Banker Bob told me how he could help. I didn’t believe Banker Bob, but I believed that something greater than Banker Bob or Dale might be working. So, I took the first step which led to the second step and so forth. And wow, I was wrong. Banker Bob delivered in ways that I could have never imagined. And Banker Bob introduced me to SBA lenders within his bank. And those SBA bankers were like colonoscopy doctors with their cruel tubes. They analyzed every detail of my being and our companies and made me produce those documents. And it worked for the deal we wanted a year ago. And guess what? Over the last few weeks when those details were needed again, we were ready. We had what PPP demanded. We had it in SBA formats. We had a relationship with an SBA bank . . . and we cleared the cuts and got our money. And that means very little to me personally, but it is the world to the employees who will need those paychecks. 

So, what do I believe? I believe that even while we are in “prison” that events are conspiring to free us. Painful Paul imprisoned me physically for a period and then mentally for a longer period. Then Banker Bob gave hope. And that hope led to actions. And those actions led to good needed today. But that is not the end of this story.

What will we do with that good? For you leaders in those companies that received the good, are you going to drop your fears? Are you going to see the footprints of something bigger than yourself? Are you going to follow those footprints and listen for the next step? We are moving together toward something greater than any of us. Say “to hell” with the negative voices in our minds, in our social media and in our companies . . . step up and do something great today so that years from now when you tell our story, it has an ending that we love.