Warrior Tower Lesson

During the Army's Basic Combat Training not only is the curriculum learned, but you also lean a lot about yourself. While I was in Basic, I learned of a few different fears I wasn't previously aware of, as well as how to over come those and other obstacles. One instance of this I would like to share is lessons I learned on Warrior Tower, which was part of the Confidence Course.

While making my way through the confidence course, I met my match in the form of Warrior Tower. The tower stood roughly 50 feet high where it was required to climb up one side through a series of ropes and incredibly unstable feeling rope ladders, then a swing on another rope across a pit before getting to the other side of the tower where Soldiers were required to rappel the 50 feet of the tower and set their feet back down on solid ground.

I found myself about halfway up the side of this tower when my fear of heights decided to present itself for the first time. I can attest to the fact that being stuck 20 feet in the air with only a rope and your grip to keep you from falling is not the best time for a fear of heights to fiercely present itself, causing you to question your ability to control your bowels. I looked down to secure footing and saw just how high I was, and I froze. Due to quite a bit of yelling from Drill Sergeants and others below me on the rope, I was able to make it to the ledge where I was to move on to the next obstacle on the climb to the top of the tower.

It was there, sitting precariously on the edge of the tower shaking like a leaf barely able to keep my lunch down that I got one of the most meaningful pep talks I have ever had. The Drill Sergeant that was sitting there told me to look at him in an attempt to keep me from looking at the ground. Then he said to me, "Part of being a Soldier is looking your fears int he face, laughing at them, and moving on with the task at hand. The reason why we do this now is so that when you are in a foxhole with people shooting at you, you w ill have the intestinal fortitude to swallow your fear and be able to shoot back."

I sat there for a second astounded at the knowledge presented to me in that short, ten second speech, then decided to use this new-found knowledge to make my way through the rest of the day. From then on through the course, when my anxiety started to get the better of me, I would remember that speech and be able to get done what I needed to. The best part is I am able to apply the concept of that speech into my daily life, even after I am no longer a Soldier.

There's always at least one individual!

In the link below, there is a story of a misunderstood planet who just wanted to be different. To strike out on it's own path. Fromm the sound of it, it woke up one day and said "you know, all the other planets follow the same rotation as the start they are tied to. Well, Not me! No, sir, not me any longer! Starting today, I'm gonna do my own thing!" And from then on, it has been rotating in the opposite direction as the star it rotates around. Science, naturally, tried to explain away the cause of this as a near collision with a larger planet, but we know what really caused it!

This also has caused me to wonder... If the planet rotates backwards, does that mean if you live on it, you get younger instead of older?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090812/sc_space/newfoundplanetorbitsbackward

Paths

I have been thinking a lot lately about the pathways we walk in life. How much control do we really have over them? Growing up, there were these Choose your own adventure books, where you choose what happens from the choices given and basically run the story from that aspect. Is this how life is? Are we presented with a situation played out, then we are left to turn to page 23 for such-and-such, or to page 35 for choice number 2? Or do we just go through life with some predetermined path we are to follow and get whatever we can out of it without having any real control over what happens?

I would like to think that it is a combination of the two. That God controls what trials we face since He knows us better than ourselves, and it is up to us to decide which choice we make from there. Not like we have this predetermined plan of where we end up in life that is set in stone and we have no say in where we end up, but more like the Choose Your Own Adventure books that have a ton of situations that play out, but you get to choose how the main character (in this case, you) reacts to the given situation, and where you go from there.

In reading those books, I discovered that even if you make a bad choice or even two or three, you can always redeem yourself to come out with a happy ending. In life, I fully believe that you can make a few wrong choices, travel down a few dark and dreary paths, but there will always be another path, a side road, something that will be there to help you find your way back to the right pathway. Some way to get you through the path of darkness and back into the light.

Another perspective is that shown in the picture. Not many different pathways to navigate your way through, but one pathway, scattered with shadows and sunshine, and no set of either any specific length, differing in shades, length, and size. The darkness covering different parts of the path, some covering only a small section, while others cover more like the entire path, not leaving room for you to walk around the shadow, forcing you to traverse the darkness, go through the trials. The best part of that, is that after you have forged your way through that darkness, make your way past the demons and shadows, you come out on the other side, not a different person, but still you. The difference being that those trials, shadows, and darkness have given you strength, courage, and the ability to know that you can succeed. You can beat the shadows and come out on the other side stronger because of it. think back with me on the trials of your life. How wonderful is the feeling of knowing that you did it. You made it through that horrible time in your life, and if it comes again, you know you are ready because you've done it once before?