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Years ago I
knew this Parole Officer, Mac, who worked in the mid-west. His parolees walked
the line and he walked the talk. No one fucked with his parolees. As tough as
he was on them, the word was out, and almost anyone getting paroled wanted Mac
on their side. Mac had absolutely no fear. His looks and stature reminded me of
Freddy Fender, the singer. Hispanic, with curly hair and a little roly-poly!
Course if you didn't walk the line, you got smacked, not thrown back in the
joint. This guy had a hundred punches and a hundred places to punch you that
didn't leave bruises but hurt like hell. I once saw him walk into a half dozen
hard-ass con's twice his size to get one of his parolee's out from under their
influence. When it was all over, the six bad-asses were on the ground and he
was walking away with his arm around his parolee giving him a lecture about who
he chose to hang out with. The point was well made and his parolee learned a
lesson. Mac was well trained with his hands, feet and a gun, and he wasn't
stupid or a hero, but his biggest advantages was a total lack of fear no matter
what the odds. There was no doubt, Mac had an attitude…..
Once knew a kid in the army, Kenny, beach
bum, surfer type, yep….from California. Pretty boy, with blond hair and
that little sparkle in his blue eyes. Kenny was the horniest guy I have ever
known. If a rock moved Kenny would hump it! Kenny was a draftee with little
interest in fighting, just doing his time and during training we voted him the
most likely to die during the first fire fight. He learned to shoot his rifle
and all that stuff but really didn't get into the fighting thing, just didn't
seem interested. Kenny liked to have fun drinking and running women, had an
edge, some rough corners, and once in a while his smart mouth would flap to
much. But what interested him the most was pussy and he talked about it all the
time!
Funny thing about Kenny, he wasn't the
first to die. In fact the last time I saw him he was alive and
well……I sure hope he made it out. I know the enemy didn't get him,
but VD might have! One night while we were securing a bridge, I was checking a
post and found a commotion around this bunker at the east side of the bridge.
Seems Kenny had commandeered this pretty little Vietnamese girl to give favors
to all the guys and he was giving turns. He would get some, then the next guy,
then Kenny got another turn, then a different guy, and then Kenny again! I
couldn't believe it and had him at gun point to get him stopped, he just didn't
care. He was almost ready to take a bullet, if he could get just one more turn.
When the shooting started, that's how Kenny
approached the whole deal, he didn't care, as far as he was concerned, the VC
were just another obstacle in his way of his next piece of ass. I never heard
the kid complain about the heat, the bugs, about being hungry or dirty, or
about the lack of sleep…..but he constantly bitched about not having any!
There was no doubt, Kenny had an attitude……
There is no argument the better trained a
warrior is, the more effective he/she could or can be. BUT, even the best
trained warrior can not be trained to make the decision to fight, that decision
comes from deep down inside each of us, and has little to do with modern day
training. Some cowards turned out to be hero's, some hero's turned out to be
cowards. You know the old question, "you can talk the walk, but can you walk
the talk?" Some guys have a lot of mouth, and some are quiet. When the chips
are down it doesn't matter how much talk is going around, it's how much action
you have in you that counts. Some people mouth off as their way of psyching
themselves up for a fight. Like that macho shit you hear come out of the mouths
of almost every member of an elite team. It's drilled into their head whether
it's the SEAL's, the Rangers, Marine Recon, Air Force PJ's, or LAPD SWAT. But
the macho talk shit carries little weight if the person blabbing doesn't have a
spine for the commitment. Some do it out loud, others do it quietly inside.
Have you ever heard this before:
"Ye thou I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil…..for
I am the meanest, toughest, bad-ass motherfucker in the valley!"
How about this one:
"If it walks,
flies, or swims on earth, I can kill it"
Or, how about this one:
"the best
they are coming out…..is even"
and
how about one more:
"kill'em all and let God sort'em out"
I'm sure you have heard others like
these and maybe even used them. Can you say them and walk it, or would it just
be some talk? The warriors attitude isn't always kind, or pleasant or polite.
The warriors attitude isn't well defined or specific, they come in many sizes
and shapes. The warriors attitude is a tool to give them an edge, allowing them
to find that right frame of mind to fight. That's what warriors do you know,
they fight. Yeh they have a lot of talk, but sooner or later, they have to
fight. An attitude gets you ready and through until you win. Weak attitudes
equal weak warriors, and reduces the odds of winning. Of course, just having a
miserable attitude doesn't assure you to win, winning is never a sure bet.
Training, skills and talent are as crucial to a warrior as the weapons he uses.
Training, skills, talent and weapons are really just tools that the warrior
employs to do his trade. He knows the real weapon is between his ears and
inside his heart.
How he thinks and how he
feels is more crucial for success to the warrior. It's a mental thing…..if
he thinks he will win, he will. Lombardi knew the value of attitude both to win
and as an edge. Every warrior would be wise to read some of his locker room
talks. It's an attitude that removes the gray area, takes out all the middle
decisions, boils things down to basics for quick decisions and lightening fast
actions.
I bet you know a friend, co-worker
or relative that has a defeatist attitude, you know like the glass is half
empty? They defeat themselves before they ever get started on something. Some
people just can't stand success and are hell bent for failure right out of the
gate. You know the type, they never venture because of fear, so they never
gain. The only thing they get is what others have provided or they just plain
lucked into.
I used to work for a guy who
gave every employee a "right to fail". The reason, besides the fact he was
smarter than most entrepreneurs, was that, when you have the right to fail, you
will be released from the bondage and possible repercussion that most companies
place on their employees and free to take a risk. To think what hasn't been
thought of before, invent the new, improve the old, jump ahead of the
competition, do the unexpected, leap out in front, to be a trend starter, not
just a trend follower. This guy was smart, real smart……if you tried
and failed, he would help you stand back up, brush you off, say, "ok, we'll
learn from that mistake", "now what's your next big idea" and you were off and
running again. He had many more successes that failures and they were all
attributable to his employees for their genius and to his leadership and
encouragement. There is no doubt he had an attitude.
Look around, our daily lives are full of
inventions and deeds created by people with an attitude. People that wouldn't
give up. People that only recognized failure as learning. You've got a lot of
wisdom, where did it come from? I'll bet most of you answer experience. Where
did you get your experience from? Probably some from learning and doing and
probably some from learning the hard way…..failures!
Attitudes are a two-sided sword. We swing
them with winning strokes. When we get cut from a mistake, we learn from our
failure and our attitude to win grows even stronger. Every win we make, and
every failure we have, makes our attitude stronger and more powerful.
But attitude isn't something you carry in
your gun bag or wallet and pull out when you think you might need it. You have
to carry that attitude with you all the time. It has to be inside of you, a
part of you. Then it will be there when you need it, because when you need it,
there will not be a lot of time to go find it.
Remember the title of an old country song,
"It's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in everyway!" Well maybe that's a
little on the bragging side, but there's nothing wrong with bolstering your
self-esteem and confidence. Warriors need to keep their steam up and ready to
go, they need to be thinkers, they need to be ahead of the pack. Carrying
around an attitude doesn't mean you have to be mean spirited, rude or
obnoxious. Sometimes you can be polite and kind, and at the same time balance
your behavior with a certain amount of frankness and directness.
I'll leave you with the words of a not so
famous philosopher, "if you decide to attack me, my family or my friends,
during the last few seconds of your existence, I will fuck you up so bad, not
even your momma will recognize you!" |