The Days of Woke and Rows

October 29, 2023 Leave a comment

The Roots of “Woke”

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” is heard in a recording of Black folk singer Lead Belly. He’s talking about his 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys”.  Radio host Lana Quest says it’s the first documented usage of the term.

Lead Belly, born Huddie William Ledbetter, advises all “colored people” to stay alert to deception–especially of law enforcement—after the injustice done to the Scottsboro Boys in Alabama. “Staying woke” was a basic survival tactic.

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” @ 4:30 mark.

“Woke” and “stay woke” have their origins in African American Vernacular English. But since the time of Lead Belly, “Staying Woke” has been co-opted to become the watchwords of identity politics and the politics of class struggle or wealth distribution.

What is “Woke” Today?

Professor Robert George of Princeton University, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program at Princeton, attempted to define “Woke”:

Recently, on Gab social media, Lindsay posted the following challenging the praxis of “Wokeism”:

“DEI violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Corporations do not have the right to subject their employees to systematic psychological abuse. Public institutions have less standing. Compelling a worldview in addition to speech through psychological torment should be a criminal offense.
DEI programs compel the adoption of a systematic worldview that answers fundamental questions about the world and man’s role in it while demanding certain duties of conscience. They demand people act in the world through the view that the world is ordered by systemic oppression.”

James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose co-authored a book:

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody 

Lindsay also participated in a Heritage Foundation panel: VIRTUAL EVENT: Wokeism at Work: How “Critical Theory” and Anti-Racism Training Divide America | The Heritage Foundation

Lindsay begins by describing wokeism and its philosophical roots. We then learn from the other panelists about the weaponization of Critical Race Theory and about the machinery that’s built up in our government to continue the woke programs. Government employees, fearing for their jobs, obey the mandates of compelled speech. I was recently made aware of one such example:

“The Department of Health and Human Services, headed up by Biden transgender Admiral Rachel Levine, has enforced a mandate requiring all employees to use preferred pronouns and “acknowledge the gender identity of their colleagues.”

Biden’s HHS Forces Employees to Use Preferred Pronouns (independentsentinel.com)

~~~~~

“This is what Woke’s Kingdom is like,” said Marcuse. “Once upon a time a professor sowed seed of critical theory in the minds of his students. Every night he went to bed; every day he got up; and the seed sprouted and grew without much effort on his part. Social media produced the growth by itself: first the Tweet, then the “Likes”, then the complete thought reform. But when the crop of activists is ready in goes the media’s call for radical activism, because the revolution has arrived.

-The words of Jesus (Mk. 4: 26-29), converted to the secular world view.

~~~~~

Codified “Woke”

Every social institution has been affected by “Wokeism. A handful of 60s and 70s laws have reached into our legal system, our education systems, and our corporations like invasive weeds. Legislative outgrowths have had their effect on the landscape of human resources and admissions. Institutional wokeness has made space for some groups and some thought while choking off all others.

Richard Hanania, in his book The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politicsmakes the case that “Long before wokeness was a cultural phenomenon it was law.”

Christopher Caldwell, a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, wrote in his 2020 book “The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties”, that The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became a “rival Constitution”, incompatible with the original one. It “emboldened and incentivized bureaucrats, lawyers, intellectuals, and political agitators to become the ‘eyes and ears,’ and even the foot soldiers, of civil rights enforcement.”

“Over time,” Caldwell noted, “more of the country’s institutions were brought under the act’s scrutiny. Eventually all of them were.”

In The New Criterion’s October 2023 issue, editor Roger Kimball, Introducing “The new conservative dilemma: a symposium” with The abnormal as the new normal, references the above legal history and comments about the situation we find ourselves in:

“The hypertrophy of the Civil Rights Act did not take place in a vacuum. Its progress was directed by the essentially Marxist ambitions of those radicals who plotted the “long march through the institutions” of the 1960s and beyond. . .

“If the Civil Rights Act is the engine behind the transformation of liberal society into an illiberal, proto-totalitarian compact, the designers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s—from Frankfurt School Marxists like Herbert Marcuse on down—provided both the plan and the fuel. The result is a weird, almost surreal situation in which the most common realities and institutions are undermined, transformed, inverted. What is a family? What is a man or a woman? What is free speech? We used to be able to answer with confidence. Can we still?”

What Happened to Woke?

“Stay woke, keep your eyes open” was an early call for Black people to be aware of deceitful practices and prejudiced people and to be awake to racial and social injustice.  We all should “Stay woke” and keep our eyes open to see human rights injustice and to fight it.

But yesterday’s “Woke” has taken on a sectarian set of values – the dogma of Critical Theory. Per Aja Romano in his article What is woke: How a Black movement watchword got co-opted in a culture war – Vox:

“. . . across a broad range of political beliefs, one recurring theme is that “wokeness” has demonstrable social, even quasi-religious, power. The writer James Lindsay has argued exhaustively that “wokeness” is essentially a religion where faith in social justice ideology stands in for belief in a deity, and that regular attendance at social justice protests has replaced the role of religious rituals for many progressives.”

Woke fundamentalist thinking thrives across the political spectrum. Monologues of shouting and abuse emanate from those who are certain that they can’t be wrong, that truth and justice are all on their side, and that there is nothing to learn from their opponents, who must be evil or deluded.

Woke fundamentalist thinking, which demands policing of speech and opinion, is antithetical to the open-mindedness and readiness to compromise that animate democracy. Woke Is the Handmaiden of Totalitarianism claims Thorsteinn Siglaugsson.

There’s a lot to take into account regarding the current state of Wokeness:

Consider, says Siglaugsson, that “One of the key characteristics of woke ideology is its utter disregard for reason; for rational thinking, and we see this perhaps most explicitly in the absurdities in the narrative around Covid-19. To the woke, all that matters is their own personal perception, subjective experience.”

Consider that intellectually bankrupt ideas have achieved acceptance in our culture. Truth, abandoned for Woke fundamentalist thinking, has taken on the postmodern understanding of the politics of power.

Consider that Woke conflict theory—separating the world into oppressor-versus-oppressed classes— with zero-sum conflict, offers no ability to agree or understand one another.

Consider that the Woke are antagonistic as everything is understood in terms of conflict: oppressor vs. oppressed power plays. The Woke, thereby, fragment culture as every relationship becomes transactional. “If I don’t get what I want you’re racist and I’m outta here.”

Consider that the Woke self is incoherent and contradictory as it is based on internal feelings. “What’s in here is more important than what’s out there.”

Consider that the Woke won’t let anyone speak into their lives. As such, there is no accountability and therefore no need for repentance, forgiveness, and redemption. There is no need to be reconciled with others and with truth.

Consider that in Woke thinking there are good and bad people. In Christian thinking there is good and bad in each one of us.

Consider that the Woke self is extremely fragile and needs constant affirmation. In the current culture, having power over others is seen as affirmation.

Consider that the Woke self is illusion, its outworking a virtue-signaling performance.

Consider that many on the job are undergoing critical theory consciousness-raising struggle sessions forcing a disconnect from reality and causing anxiety and depression, and, perhaps, suicide.

Consider that many on the job are undergoing Woke diversity training, e.g., being compelled to use preferred pronouns, even though compelling pronouns and worldviews are First Amendment violations.

Consider that our children are being taught, by the Woke, that the country they live in is racist and that all white people are racist.

Consider that Woke school boards and librarians want to place deviant pornographic material in the hands of our children.

Consider that the Woke advocate for pediatric sex changes.

Consider that the “egalitarian” Woke locked down schools for COVID, disproportionally affecting black and brown kids.

Consider that the “oppressor vs. oppressed” Woke support Islamist terrorist regimes.

Consider that the nonsensical Woke mock big business and worship Big Pharma.

Consider that there is something mentally off in the Woke push to defund the police, in eliminating bail, and in releasing violent offenders back into the public to await trial – all done under the rubric of oppressor-versus-oppressed ideology.

Consider that there is something mentally off in listening to climate alarmists and their insane and unscientific push for “Net Zero” emissions, an Eco-Woke version of the oppressor (mankind, fossil fuels) versus oppressed (earth) ideology.

Consider that there is something mentally off with Woke protestors. The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution. Comrades march in solidarity.

Consider that there is something mentally off with a Woke government looking at plans to “cull” 200,000 cows to meet its climate goals to satisfy the European Union’s (EU) net zero requirements.

Consider that Woke Climate alarmism is mental health abuse of young people. Should anyone be concerned about having children because alarmists have convinced them the planet is ending?

Consider that there is something mentally off with a Woke government on track to pass a massive ‘hate speech’ bill criminalizing social media posts likely ‘to incite violence or hatred’.

Consider that wokeism is characterized by thinking unconditionally or un-contextually, in binary. Behavior is to be condemned regardless of its reasons. And so, people are having to walk on eggshells around the Woke fault-finding terrorists.

Consider that “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

And, consider that

. . .
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

 . . .

Excerpt from the poem The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939

~~~~~

The Woke kingdom has burgeoned, promoting surreal incumbering effects. And so has mental illness. Correlation?

Consider also that Woke-derived mental illness has produced enablers:

“In fact, the culture of woke in academia is referred to as the Critical Social Justice Theory (CSJT). CSJT adherents seek to identify an enemy and project their own intolerance and guilt onto the enemy. Most of these CSJT adherents are members of the demographic that they are against, which is generally the rich, white elite. They justify themselves as being allies of the oppressed and often speak in a self-deprecating manner to show they are “woke” and striving to be less like the oppressor class. This mentality and the activism it has spawned have created a class of mental health practitioners who are more interested in “social justification” of maladaptive behaviors than actual social justice.”

Woke Mental Health -Capital Research Center

~~~~~

Here are some voices talking about the mental illness of Wokeism

Wokeism Is a Mental Disorder, 10/5/2023 Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski | Listen online (getpodcast.com)

Wokeism Is a Mental Disorder – Watchdog of Wall St.

Podcast for Independent Investors | The Watchdog on Wallstreet

~~~

The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokeism

Princeton professor Dr. Margarita Mooney Suarez shares her expertise as a sociologist and experience as an educator to talk about woke ideology and cancel culture and how they’re affecting the mental health of young people. She talks about the rise in loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide in pre-teens, teens, and young adults, and she shares a potential solution to the problem: refocusing on beauty.

The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokeism

Episode #229 – The Mental Health Side Effects of Wokism – Doctor Doctor Podcast

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Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.”

“Wokeism” is arguably the most influential public philosophy in our country today. It has worked its way into the minds and hearts of our young people, into the world of entertainment, and into the boardrooms of powerful corporations. But what is it precisely, and where did it come from”

Bishop Robert Barron speaking on “The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism.”

~~~

“Will Cain sits down with Environmental Progress founder and author, Michael Shellenberger, to discuss why the worshipping of wokeism as an ideology is inherently dangerous to a society, as well as what Michael and Will believe are the real greatest threats to the American experiment.

Will and Michael look at issues such as climate, energy, food policy, as well as drugs, mental illness, homelessness, and crime to give an overarching view of places where well-intended but naive policies have had disastrous unintended consequences.”

Michael Shellenberger: Why the religion of wokeism is so dangerous | Will Cain Podcast – YouTube

The Will Cain Podcast: Michael Shellenberger: Why The Religion Of Wokeism Is So Dangerous on Apple Podcasts

~~~~~

Woke Mental Disorders Portrayed:

I would like to ask the young women in the picture and the women of the WEF video “Where are you going with this?’ and “How does doing/saying this make you feel?”

Wokeism – the religion of “never enough!”:

~~~~~~

Levi’s Wokes – SNL – YouTube

~~~~~

Mentally Disordered Laws for Mentally Disordered People:

“Reduxx has learned that a trans-identified male was arrested in Perry County, Illinois, after making threats to commit a school shooting and murder children on behalf of the transgender community in response to transphobic “bullying.”

 . . .

“According to Perry County court records, Willie has not yet entered a plea on his charge of resisting arrest, but Sheriff Howard explains that even if he is found guilty he will likely walk away with a fine.

“It’s more or less going to end up going to be a hearing. Now with the state of Illinois having the SAFE-T Act, which went into effect on September 18, those types of crimes are no longer containable. You just bring [a suspect] in for booking, processing, and biometrics and then you release them with a court date and it is all handled by the courts from there on out.” (Emphasis mine.)

Willie’s next hearing is scheduled for January 2, 2024.

Trans-Identified Male Arrested After Threatening To Murder Children In Illinois Over Transphobic “Bullying” – Reduxx

Mentally Disordering Social Media:

 Dozens of U.S. states are suing Meta Platforms (META.O) and its Instagram unit, accusing them of fueling a youth mental health crisis by making their social media platforms addictive.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the attorneys general of 33 states including California and New York said Meta, which also operates Facebook, repeatedly misled the public about the dangers of its platforms, and knowingly induced young children and teenagers into addictive and compulsive social media use.

…

But the states said research has associated children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with “depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.”

Meta’s Instagram linked to depression, anxiety, insomnia in kids – US states’ lawsuit | Reuters

Dozens of states sue Meta over addictive features harming kids – POLITICOMeta sued by 33 states for child-harming business practices • The Register

Informed Dissent:

Cult-Owned CDC Lunatics Wants Pregnant Women to Get 4 Vaccines – More and More Women Are Saying ‘No’ – David Icke

New Non-mRNA ‘Emergency’ Vaccine Authorized for COVID (mercola.com)

CONSUMER ALERT: The Deadly Reason Tylenol Should Be Removed from the (greenmedinfo.com)

‘Adulterated’ Covid Vaccines Should Be Pulled From The Market: Experts (substack.com)

Fast Food Loaded With Antibiotics, Hormones, Heavy Metals, but Few Nutrients (mercola.com)

Battling Beasts and Bureaucrats: Naomi Wolf and the American Medical-Government Police State | Mises Wire

~~~~~

Beauty isn’t boring. Read Evie Magazine.

A boy sits and reads among the ruins of a bookshop that was destroyed during an air raid in London, United Kingdom in 1940.

Filed under Black America, Memorial Day, Progressivism, Wokeism Tagged with , , ,

The Rectitude of Silence

May 28, 2012 Leave a comment

The Memorial Day weekend and the recent retirement of my boss, a Vietnam veteran, tugged at some heart-strings drawing me back home…

 At 6:00 am dad nudged me out of a dream where I had been standing over Grandma Johnson’s gravesite.  Half awake I got out of bed and dressed being sure not to wake the rest of the family.  When I reached the kitchen I could see from the window that dad was already in the car waiting for me.  The car was running.  I walked quietly back to my bedroom, grabbed my trumpet case and walked out the door.

In the car I sat silently as Dad drove us to the nearby Village Hall. There the Memorial Day ceremony would take place on the front lawn.  Earlier in the year of ‘69 my father had become the village’s mayor. He was now to deliver the Annual Memorial Day Speech during this service of remembrance.

 As we drove up a podium with a microphone was placed on the lawn outside the entrance to the village hall.  All around us dozens of people were streaming out of their cars and joining the semi-circle facing the podium.  Behind the podium there stood several men from the local VFW. 

These veterans were decked out in their dress uniforms. Several of the uniforms bore chevrons and gold braids with medals festooning their chests.   Thin ribbon bars, their colors revealing the military campaigns, the theaters of battle, they had been involved with.  Bronze and silver stars and medals of commendation glinted in the morning sun light. An aged vet who had served in WWI sat in a wheel chair. There were many there who had served in WWII.  And there were some, home from their first tour in Viet Nam, who looked like teenagers compared to the older vets.

I watched as front and center on the grass a detail of vets, each representative of a different branch of the armed services, practiced presenting the colors, recalling a formation they had learned years ago.

To one side of the podium my father talked about the order of the service with the speakers and presenters.  A pastor would pray for the men and women in the military. A Marine captain would present the colors. A Navy ensign would recall Guadalcanal. An army vet would speak about things he held dear such as duty, honor, sacrifice and friendship.  He would choke up as he spoke about comrades lost in battle.

At fifteen years old it was not lost on me that guys at the age of seventeen were going off to war and some were not coming back.  The specter of going to war loomed ever larger for me, especially as horrific scenes of the Viet Nam war were shown on almost every nightly newscast.  There seemed to be no end to the conflict in sight. 

  I knew guys just two years older than me who were being drafted.  I knew that I could possibly be drafted and sent to off to Vietnam.  I knew that would have to register with the selective service when I turned seventeen.  The possibility sent chills down my spine.  I picked up my horn out of its case and began nervously pumping the valves.  Buzzing my lips against the mouthpiece I blew warm air through my trumpet. I wondered if I was good enough horn player to play with the U.S. Army Band.

 At 7 am my dad moved to the podium and spoke a welcome to all who had “come out on this beautiful Memorial Day morning.”  He acknowledged the members of the VFW and each Village trustee who had attended.  To open the service he asked a pastor to come forward and lead the service with a prayer.

 Before my father gave the pastor the microphone he asked that there would be a moment of silence in memory of those who had fallen. We bowed our heads. 

Before me stood a WWII vet, head uncovered, head bowed.  Overhearing him earlier talking to another vet I understood that he knew full well the horrors of war better than any acid-eyed tie-dyed peace protestor. This veteran had paid a significant price for any protestor’s right and the rights of Europeans and Asians to live free from tyranny’s aggression. 

American men and women were able to assemble and protest because of the sacrifices men like this soldier made on their behalf. The strength of our republic lay in our individual resistance to evil where ever it threatens us – at home or abroad. And, here at home, an evil grew which was just as insidious as foreign aggression– licentiousness.

 Carl Sr., a Presbyterian minister and the father of one of my close friends, prayed a blessing on the cherished memory of the fallen and their families.  He prayed for those in the midst of battle that very day in Southeast Asia.  He sought comfort and succor for those who live on with injuries received in battle, both physical and mental.  He prayed for all those friends and families who had grieved the loss of loved ones.  He then prayed for our nation, a nation openly riddled with discord and godlessness, submitting our country “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.”  

 After the prayer my father spoke. Dad’s words honored those who had gone to battle to protect our liberties and the liberties of our allies. He spoke of their commitment to freedom, to a higher purpose. He spoke of their courage not often found among men and women of this age.  He spoke of their ultimate sacrifice:  “greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friend.”  In closing, he hallowed their memory, echoing Abraham Lincoln’s words, saying, “…that these dead shall not have died in vain.”

 The flag ceremony began.  White gloved hands unfolded the American flag. Two vets held the corners of the flag, keeping it from ever touching the ground.  Unfolded the flag was hoisted to the top of the nearby flag pole. My father, placing his hand over his heart, began:  “I pledge allegiance to the flag…” I could see that the Stars and Stripes, at ease on this serene morning, moved the veteran’s hearts to their throats, pushing tears into their eyes.  There were no placards of “Make Love Not War” here this morning.  The bearers of those signs must have been sleeping in, secure in their beds.

 After the pledge of allegiance a high school senior came to the microphone and led the singing of our national anthem.  There were more tears and more memories halting reverent shaky voices. 

I sang the anthem thinking about the year before:  while young men and women were fighting in the steamy death-laden jungles of Southeast Asia east coast hippies gathered at the Fillmore East in New York City to hear Grace Slick sing about a White Rabbit.

 Even at fifteen I knew that the peace-loving hippies had ceased fighting against the tyranny of drugs and the unbridled desires that come with it. They thought that all they needed was “Love.” And while “Peace” and “Love” became the mantras of their drug-infused songs, some of the protesters became aggressive and violent in their anti-war protests.

Bill Ayers the co-founder of the Weather Underground, a communist revolutionary group, began bombing public buildings as a sign of contempt over theU.S.involvement in the Viet Nam War. The contradiction, violent murderous aggression to obtain peaceful ends, didn’t make sense to me and it surely didn’t respect the freedom they clearly enjoyed, freedom paid for with the lives of decent peace-loving men and women.

 “Now we will have the presenting of colors”, the loud-speaker sputtered dad’s words.

 The honor guard, waiting in the background, marched to the front of the assembly.  The commander led them through the drill.  Once the men were in formation the American flag was presented and the other flags were lowered. The vets came to attention and saluted the flag.

 Commands were given to the small rifle squad.  Rifle barrels were inspected and loaded.  The vets were then commanded to raise their rifles. “Ha-Ready,” “H-Aim,” “Fire!”  The crack of twenty-one bombastic gun shots sent shock waves to my ear drums.  The air began to fill with the smell of sulfur, chalk and burnt paper – gun powder. Smoke, in small billows rose above the rifles, seeming to carry the memory of fallen soldiers up into heaven.

 After the twenty-first shot there was a long silent pause, lasting five minutes.  Then my father nodded over at me. I stood outside the assembly with two other trumpeters, the three of us standing at fifty yard intervals within a cluster of cottonwood trees. Taking a long deep breath I began to play Taps.  The second horn echoed a response after the first phrase and then the third trumpet echoed the second horn. From the corner of my eyes I could see the vets with their hands on hearts, their caps off and their heads bowed in solemn reverence:   the fallen are remembered.  Honor.  Chivalry.  Courage.  Sacrifice. The fallen are remembered.  Not forsaken. Never forsaken.

 Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is near.
Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar, drawing near
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise for our days
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
As we go, this we know
God is near.

 A gust of wind lifted the branches above me as the third trumpet’s final echo fell silent in the distance.  The leaves shuddered and then the wind seemed to hold its breath, as if muted by grace.  In that ethereal silence with ears already deafened by the sound of a twenty-one gun salute I was reminded of love’s supreme sacrifice, of a mother’s prayers rising up, of songs tearfully sung at gravesites and of sacred words commemorating lives offered in the line of duty.  Though war will always be near because of mankind’s ungodliness God is always nearer.

That Memorial day I mournfully sounded the last trumpet call “Day is done” as a prayer of eternal rest for those men and women in the United States military who made the ultimate sacrifice.  And since that day, as I’ve grown more silent, my soul again hears that last trumpet call.  It is calling me to live a life worthy of the lives laid down for me, a life near to God.

© Sally Paradise, 2012, All Rights Reserved

Filed under History, Human Interest, Life As I See It, Memorial Day, Memorial Day, Military, non-fiction, Writing Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Straight Arrow

May 30, 2011 Leave a comment

A few years ago I was interviewed and hired by the company I now work for.  I am not allowed to talk in detail about the company.  Suffice it to say, though, that I work with Professional Engineers (PEs) in a major industry.  Bill is the man who read my resume and sought me out for a position in the company.  It was on an ice-cold Friday one day in January 2007 that I was interviewed by him. During the first minutes of the interview I learned that Bill had served in the military – 101st Airborne,U.S. Paratrooper Division – – The Screaming Eagles, in Viet Nam, 1968.

I wasn’t sure why he told me his background during my interview.  He certainly had a right to be proud about his service.  Perhaps he wanted me to know who I was dealing with – a no-nonsense, disciplined kind of guy whose word was his bond. He was completely kind, overly polite and very desirous that I was being dealt with properly by the people interviewing me.  That day I was interviewed by five other people besides Bill.  Later, in the afternoon, Bill began gently pushing me to decide in favor of working there.  This was a surprise to me in that I didn’t think I would walk in and get a job that quickly, especially at a company that was so professional and technical. My previous jobs were with small companies.  These companies often moved slowly when choosing someone to hire, being very careful of every nickel and dime spent.

I liked Bill’s demeanor, his history of service in the military and his quiet gentle way that hid his strength. I also liked the fact that Bill had worked at this company for thirty-some years.  That meant something to me. I had cycled through many different jobs in the manufacturing industry due to the industry’s dependence on the up and down economy. I shook hands with Bill at 3:00 pm that day. I had agreed to work for him at this company.  I intuitively knew that he could be trusted to do right by me.  He was not like those in the past who had used me to just balance their books.

Over the course of the last few years Bill has directed our design group meetings.  He has reviewed me annually and has given me raises. He has been involved in most of the design review meetings that I have been involved in. Bill held everyone strictly accountable to the standards that our company had developed over the years.  In our industry, high standards and accountability are paramount to staying in the select stream of business offered by our clients. Bill made sure that each of us adhered to those standards on each and every project.  He made sure that our “deliverables” matched the high quality standards set by the company.

During the first year of my work with Bill, Bill held a “Boot Camp”.  He had developed a set of classes to give us an overview of the subject matter behind our daily tasks.  The camp was informative and again, matching Bill’s character gently pushed each one to a better understanding of our company’s work at hand and to be better people. 

Recently a retirement party was held by our company for Bill.  Bill decided it was time to go home and stay home.  His wife has been dealing with two cancers.  Bill needed to be with her on this battlefront.

Here are some of the reflections written out in Bill’s “Farewell Notice” to his team members:

“Th(e) boot camp was intended to teach you technical skills, to be a team player, focus your attention to details, to understand how to use verified design inputs and to be accountable for your actions – but it was also to show you how to be Respectful with each other.

As the time for me grows near for me to pick up my gear and head out, one phrase that I picked up from the years past is one that I may have used in conversation with you.

The phrase is that I am being a straight arrow with you.

The meaning of this phrase has had a deep and everlasting impact on me and for the person I hoped to be.

The meaning is of Trust, Loyalty and respect for each other.”

Bill went on to talk about his military experience in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne,U.S. Paratrooper Division known as the Screaming Eagles. This happened in 1968.

Bill served in Viet Nam for thirteen months “where I lived in mountain caves in the Central Highlands with my unit.”  He shared the cave “with one of our allies who were Viet Nam native mountain soldiers who carried cross bows and wore their native clothes.”

It was in a cave on evening where Bill first heard the phrase “Straight Arrow”, from the lead scout of these mountain fighters. A relationship of trust developed – he had Bill’s back and Bill had his.  In broken English, French accents and many hand gestures, the scout explained what he meant by “Straight Arrow” – “a straight arrow is good (trusted) and a bent arrow is not…if you try to bend a straight arrow, even a little, it can never fly straight again and eventually this arrow, if bent too many times, will become a broken arrow that will not fly at all.”

Bill:  “This message came to me from this Loyal friend one evening in a cave so many years ago…I took this message to mean that we needed to be straight with each other to co-exist.”

“I believe, by straight, that he meant we should be there for each other – something I have carried with me as a way of life.”

“My hope is that I have always been a straight arrow with you and that you will always be a straight arrow with each other.”

Much more could be written coming out of Bill’s Farewell Notice to the company and out of his example set before me during my time with him.  He now wants to do the right thing by his wife. He wanted to be there for her during this enormously difficult time.  As he said, “I chose to do the right thing.”

My time of knowing Bill, from my interview to his farewell party just a few weeks ago afforded me the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “serve” with a man who is honorable, honest, decent and trustworthy – a gentle giant of a man.  My quiver is now becoming full with “Straight Arrow” choices of my own.

© Sally Paradise, 2011, All Rights Reserved

Filed under Christian character, Memorial Day, Military, non-fiction Tagged with , , , , , ,