This entry at the Freakonomics blog got me thinking, very late, about New Years resolutions.
I will be upfront and honest. I loathe New Years resolutions. They drive me bonkers. Here are several reasons for my unnatural distaste for these annual goals of hope:
- People (myself included) hardly ever keep them past February
- The fervor with which people adopt these resolutions seems to me akin to extreme Nationalism.
- "Have you made any resolutions?" The subtle, yet effective and most frequent means of reinforcement.
- "You don't have a resolution?! You need to make one!" The peer pressure here is more detectable.
- "OK, everyone take your paper and right down at least one resolution." Conform or face social repercussions!
- These resolutions are often rushed and insincere. I often make them up off the top of my head to avoid the
SpanishGoal Inquisition. - More often than not I use New Years as an excuse to put things off.
- I know I need to eat healthier, but it's almost New Year so I'll start then!
That all having been said, I don't hate goals. I'm not very good at them, and know I should do better. Goals are very important. When I'm making and keeping goals I'm progressing in life. When I'm not it's all to easy to flounder.
So here's my Non-New Years Resolution: I will take my time to decide on important goals for this coming year. I will not overburden myself with huge monumental aspirations, but simple, practical, and achievable goals.
With this in mind, I'm asking for the help of my friends, not because I want badly to please you, but because I realize the value of an outside perspective. So, what do you think I should work on? Are there things which you feel would make me a better, happier, more effective person? Perhaps it might help if I give you some categories. Here's another, marvelous, bulleted list:
- Work
- Education
- Family
- Religion
- Health
For extra credit, you can see last year's resolutions here. Try and figure out if I kept any of them.
Winston Churchill once said, "To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which could be his finest hour." (Hagen) Major Richard Winters of the 101st Airborne was prepared and qualified to participate in some of the greatest acts of American History. Like most war heroes, he did not love war. As he said, "wars do not make men great, but they do bring out the greatness in good men." (Winters, 291) What made Winters great was his willingness to lead, his love of his men, and his diligence.
Richard
Winters was born January 21, 1918, in the heart of Dutch Country,
Lancaster Pennsylvania. His parents were good, conservative,
hard-working people. They taught him the value of hard work and
discipline. Speaking of his mother, Dick Winters wrote, "In many
respects she was the ideal company commander and subconsciously, I'm
sure I patterned my own leadership abilities on this remarkable woman."
(Winters, 5)
Richard attended Franklin and Marshall College,
where he gained a great love for reading, the ability to study hard and
to learn. When he wasn't working on school work [added for clarity] he
was painting tension towers for Edison Electric. "Studies, work, and
the ever-present lack of funds did not provide much opportunity for
running around," he wrote (6). After graduating college, Richard
decided to enlist in the armed forces. The new Selective Training and
Service Act required each man to serve one year in the military.
Richard intended to serve his year and be free from the military,
avoiding war, and to return to the peace of his home in Pennsylvania.
On
December 7, 1941, just over three months after Richard Winter's
enlistment, everything changed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
Winters knew he would not be in the Army for one year, but would remain
until the war was finished. Distraught over the inadequacies and
failures of the leadership he dealt with, and desirous to serve to the
best of his abilities, Winters took the opportunity to attend Officers
Candidate School (Winters, 8). After a few months Winters transferred
to Fort Benning, Georgia. This is where Winters first saw the
Paratroopers. Observing their fitness, discipline, and character
Winters decided that he would join the airborne. Winters recalls,
"[they] were the best soldiers at the infantry school and I wanted to
be with the best, not with the sad sacks that I had frequently seen on
post.(10)"
Graduating in July of 1942, Winters made his way to
Camp Toccoa. There, he became a part of Easy Company. The time spent
there, the intense physical tests, and the bonds built with his men all
contributed to Lieutenant Winters' success as a leader.
Leaving
the United States behind, Winters and his company boarded a ship and
set out for England. Winters arrived in Aldbourne, England, on a
Saturday evening in September, 1943. Having spent so much time on a
sardine-like sea vessel traveling across the Atlantic, and then finding
himself in the same crammed conditions on base, Winters found the
quickest opportunity to be alone: church services on Sunday. (Anderson,
2.)
Adjacent to the church was a cemetery. Still wanting some
time alone, Winters found a bench and sat down redundant. He noticed an
elderly British couple standing at a grave. After a while they wandered
to where Winters was and sat beside him. They spoke for a time, and
then invited Winters to tea. Winters realized that the British people
were required to ration their food and had already been warned about
accepting such invitations, yet did not refuse their kindness (Ibid.).
It was decided that the US Officers were too crowded in their living
quarters . Some would have to board in town with families. The elderly
couple, Mr. and Mrs. Barnes offered to house Lieutenant Winters and
Lieutenant Harry Welsh. Most of the men in Winter's company enjoyed
going to the British pubs at night. However, Winters preferred to stay
at home with the Barnes. This home was an important part of Dick
Winters' stay in England. The day Winters had first met this family
they were decorating the resting place of their son, a war casualty
from the Royal Air Force. Said Winters, "They adopted me and made me
part of the family. This helped me prepare mentally for what I was
about to face." (Ibid.)
It was about
eleven thirty on June 6, 1944, and Lieutenant Winters was in a plane
with seventeen paratroopers. Colonel Charles Young was commanding the
fleet of aircraft transporting the 101st Airborne. Although Colonel
Young had extensive flight experience, most of the pilots he was
commanding had only a few hundred hours in the air. This was their
first combat mission. (Winters, 77) In a short time the planes were in
the air, crossing the channel, and flying over France at 125 miles per
hour. Suddenly Winters' plane was hit on it's tail. The green
jump-signal light turned on, Winters yelled for his men to go, and he
jumped out of the plane just as it was hit again. Flying through the
air, now at 150 miles per an hour, Winter's leg bag came loose and was
ripped off along with almost every other piece of equipment he had (79).
Landing several miles off-target on the edge of St. Mere-Eglise with no
gun and no grenades, Lieutenant Winters made his way to where he
thought he could find his leg bag (81). As he started his search
another paratrooper landed close by. Cutting the soldier loose from his
chute and taking one of his grenades, Winters told the man to come with
him. Though the soldier had a tommy gun, he was still weary of taking
the lead, so Winters said, "follow me!" (81) And so Winters lead the
way. He would continue leading for the rest of the war.
Winters
spent the rest of the day regrouping until finally receiving orders
from Captain Hester. "There's fire along that hedgerow there. Take care
of it," were all the instructions he received (83). Having his men drop
all equipment save ammunition and grenades, Winters quickly conducted
his own reconnaissance, crawling down the hedgerow. He discovered
large, cannon-like guns firing onto causeway #2 of Utah Beach where the
first waves of infantry were already landing. Winters placed two men
with machine guns to provide covering fire, divided his men into two
units, and moved down parallel hedgerows. Winters and his men took out
the German's first gun, then used the trenches as a covered attack
route. They destroyed each gun by explosives, or throwing grenades into
their barrels. Not only did they destroy the guns, but Winters found a
map, "showing all 105mm artillery positions and machine gun
emplacements on the Cotentin Peninsula." (85) Major Winters never put
his men in a more dangerous position than his own. He was willing to do
his own work and lead from the front. Today this attack is known as the
"Brécourt Manor Assault" and is still taught at West Point.
After Normandy, Winters and his company returned to England. It
was September before they were called upon for another mission: the
liberation of Holland. Securing a small bridgehead on the Rhine River,
Winters and his company moved down a corridor on the southern band of
the Lower Rhine known as "Hell's Highway." (Anderson, 3) "The
Island was a flat agricultural area, below sea level. Dikes that were 7
meters high and wide enough at the top for two-lane roads held back the
flood waters." (Ambrose, 141)
It was a cold, rainy
October, and Winters was assigned to relieve the British by covering a
long front. Being stretched thin, Winters covered only the points he
determined the Germans would most likely pass through and cover the
rest of the line with patrols (Anderson, 3). All movement was done at
night. During the day, the men stayed in their foxholes or in abandoned
buildings (Ambrose, 141). It was the fourth of the month and earlier
that night one of Winter's patrols had encountered enemies and was
forced to withdraw [what night?].
Taking some members from his
first platoon who were in reserve, Winters went to the designated spot,
gave each member of his squad a target, and called on them to fire,
eliminating every target (Anderson, 3). Knowing that they were now on
the German side of the dike, Winters and his men fell back into a
shallow gully on the side of the road. He called for his reserve
platoon, and after they arrived, went by himself to survey the rest of
the Germans. His small band was the only thing separating these Germans
from the rest of his battalion, and a straight, clear shot to
headquarters. The German soldiers were also on a roadway embankment,
which gave them advantage over his own men who were only in a shallow
ditch. The Germans were also in an excellent position to outflank the
patrol to the right (Ambrose, 147).
It was now broad daylight.
Winters reasoned that the only course of action was to make an attack
because if they retreated they would become target practice for the
Germans. If they stayed his platoon would be sitting ducks. Winters
ordered the men to fix bayonets, and signaled when to throw a smoke
grenade, the signal for a charge. [stopped here]
Winters lead
the charge. Recalling this experience of dashing across a 200 yard
field winters wrote, "the men in the company are behind me, but they
seem to be moving so slow. Nobody seemed to be moving normally, only
me." (Anderson, 3) All along the field was barbed wire about the height
of the soldier's shoes, however Winters could not be stopped. "Oddly
enough I seemed to be floating more than running as I rapidly outpaced
everyone else in the platoon." (Winters, 140) The Roadway Tapered and
Winters jumped onto it. Three to four yards in front of him was a
German Sentry on outpost with his head ducked down. Fifteen yards to
his right was a solid mass of German infantry, two companies, also with
heads ducked down, covering from fire. Winters was in their rear.
Winters
jumped back down off the road and threw his Grenade. It failed. Jumping
back onto the road winters saw the German Sentry. "After all these
years, I can still see him smiling at me as I stood on top of the dike.
It wasn't necessary to take an aimed shot. I shot from the hip."
(Winters, 141) This shot alerted the other Germans, and simply turning
over towards them, Winters began shooting from the hip, cutting the men
down. Winters had shot through two clips of eight rounds before the
Germans raised their guns to fire at him, but the commotion he had
caused made their shots ineffective. Rolling back down off the road,
Winters loaded his third clip and finally saw the front of his platoon
reaching him with most men still twenty yards away. He ordered his men
to fire at will.
It was a miracle, but Easy Company had defied
the odds and beat the enemy. Facing upwards of 300 German soldiers,
Winters, with only 55 men sustained 22 casualties. However, his men had
killed 50 Germans, captured eleven, and wounded countless more
(Winters, 146).
This experienced further sealed the bond between
Winters and his men. They honored him as a great leader, and he loved
them for their talent and hard work; for their dedication. These words
from a sergeant to Winters describe the relationship: "The things we
had are damn near sacred to me." (Winters, 147)
From Holland it was out of the frying pan and into the fire as Winter's
and his men were sent into Bastogne Belgium, near the town of Foy.
There, they held the line northeast of Bastogne in what later became
knows as "The Battle of The Bulge." They held off elite German forces
for a week before the US broke through the German line. Easy Company,
once relieved, lead an attack on the town of Foy. Following this
attack, Winters was made acting CO of 2nd Battalion, then was promoted
to Major. Easy company went on to occupy Berchtesgaden, and capture
Hitler's "Eagles Nest."
With the majority of the Toccoa men
gone, occupation life was wearing thin on Major Winters." I was bored,
tired, sore, and looking for constructive ways to bide my time" Winters
wrote (Winters, 245). He managed to obtain fourteen days leave to visit
Aldbourne England, his home away from home (247). There he spent most
of his time with Mrs. Barnes (Mr. Barnes had passed away). Winters
stayed around the house, cutting the grass, gardening, or sleeping
(Ibid). By this time Winters was done with war, and ready to leave for
home.
Major Dick Winters remained in Europe until the fall of 1945. It was November Fourth when he boarded the Wooster Victory at Marseilles France, the ship that would carry him home (254). Twenty Five days later, Major Dick Winters arrived at Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania, a few short miles from his home. By the next day the 101 Airborne was deactivated. Easy Company was no longer in existence (254).
One of the first things Winters did was to go to the post office which housed the offices of the IRS. He insisted that he pay income tax on his military earnings. The man behind the counter told him that he did not have to pay, but Major Winters responded, "Sir, I want to pay my part of the bill. I am proud to be an American!" (255) This speaks volumes of the character of this man. It would not take a stretch of the imagination to see how a World War II vet would not feel he owed anything to his country, yet this man felt indebted to the Nation that provided his liberty, and his life.
Dick Winters returned quickly to civilian life. Within two weeks he took Lieutenant Nixon's offer to work for his father at Nixon Nitration Works. He was payed $75.00 a week (256). In 1948 he met and married his wife Ethel (256). Desiring a home to settle down with his wife and children, Dick purchased a 106 acre farm along the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Renting the farm house to a young family, Dick began building a home for his family by hand, stone by stone. That is how great leaders and great nations are built. Stones hewn are broken and chipped away piece by piece. This process creates a structure made up of individuals, each custom-fitted, aligned by the hand of a man of vision with a chisel and patience.
Major Dick Winters was one of the greatest American leaders, not because he did something outstanding, something different from any of the other soldiers in World War II, but because he saw where he fit and he endeavored to be changed to fit that niche. Like the stones which make up his home, Dick Winters was shaped by a force that did not want him to be a mountain or a pebble, but a piece of a grand structure; a structure to safeguard something special. The structure is our Nation. Of all people on the earth, we should be most grateful to live in a country founded and preserved by such men. One great lesson learned in all of history is how little people really do change. Therefore, we should not shirk our responsibility to become a strong part of this great building, to do some special thing.
Julie: this girl has been an example to me ever since I knew her. I could always tell she's a great person, and we've been friends for awhile, but on this trip I really saw an overwhelming amount of her goodness shine though. Her concern for other people, her priority of service, and her patience astound me. She makes me want to be better.
Richard: A stud. I don't think I was anywhere near as on fire as him before my mission. I'm constantly amazed at how often Richard is thinking about spiritual things. He's an example to me of zealous excitement. I think we all could sue more of that. He's gunna' make a great missionary.
Elder and Sister Larsen (plus grandkids): These people are so generous. They don't know how much they helped us on the trip. Their simple love and concern for others is so selfless that it fills me with awe. I hope I an be like them at that age instead of the inevitable crotchety old man I'll become. Their grandkids are awesome as well! So bright and full of light.
Deborah and Johann: Thanks for putting up with my snoring! I appreciate all the time you both took to spend with us, even though you had finals to study for. Deborah, thanks for the great food! I promise to be cleaner in the future.
Jasmyn: Great chicken salad and conversation. Thanks for being an awesome friend. I love that you help me know when I'm being an idiot, but that you constantly encourage me. Thanks!
David: You my dog! Dbo, you are seriously one of my heroes. Thanks for spending some time with us, even though you weren't feeling so great!
Jeremy: Your class aside comments were amazing. You crack me up!
Erin: I know the night was overwhelming. Thanks for putting up with our tomfoolery. You're so full of awesomeness, how do you ever keep it in?!
Ashley: it was great seeing you, and even better to see that you didn't turn into a weirdo. Move to California. Trust me, you won't regret it!
This weekend reinforced my knowledge that the Spirit testifies of truth and seals it upon our hearts and minds by the power of the Lord. My testimony of the Atonement was greatly increased. I feel so much love for everyone. If there's any way I can help with anything let me know. I'm so fortunate to have this many friends. Let's move forward!
One steamy, sleepless, summer night,
Outside my window, in the starry light,
A mockingbird sang his lonely tune,
It echoed through the trees into my room:
You may not see, but you're the one for me,
You may not know, but I love you so,
You may not feel the same as I do now,
But anyhow,
I'll wait for you.
I haven't slept a single night this week,
So I just sit in bed and think, think, think,
About how me and my friend are just the same,
Both finished last in loves biggest game.
You may not see, but you're the one for me,
You may not know, but I love you so,
You may not feel the same as I do now,
But anyhow,
I'll wait for you.
My reaction? This is one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. If you enjoyed movies like Big Fish you're gunna' love this show. It's got amazing aesthetics and the dialog is quirky and punchy. The premise, with it's rules, will make for a show that can last a long time.
So go check your schedule now and set your tivo!
Ok, if you know me you understand why I like this show. It makes me feel great about myself. Total self-esteem boost.
I've only watched part of seasons one and two. I missed the third season. The contestants this season seem pretty awesome and should make for some good laughs.
Here's what I'm not happy with -- they brought on a retarded-mutant-of-a-fabio impersonator. He's the single "male" "beauty" with his partner who's the lone female geek. DUMB. Honestly this is why I can never be into a reality shwo for longer than a couple of seasons. Departing too much from the premise RUINS it. Seriousely.
We'll have to see if this dies like my past favorites of Real World, Road Rules, and The Amazing Race.
Holy crow! With last season's cliff-hanger I really got stoked to watch the new season. I was worried it was going to get a bit too much like LOST.
After watching the first episode of this season I must say I'm very glad. There's enough mystery without alienating anyone. Since the title of the show is "Prison Break" it's very much in line to have Michael in prison again and have him trying to break out once more. This also opens up lots of plot possibilities.
Let's hope they don't just drag things on. Letting these characters develop and actually accomplish things would b a breath of fresh air.
These pictures are late. Nevertheless, this was a dope shiz party. Mad props to Kori and Kori's parents. Also Ginger helped and that was good. I was glad I could do my little bit by marinating the meat. I do that well.
Elder Bert Fuller
Poland Mission
Provo MTC
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT
84604
