All posts by stuervay

SERVICE IN A POLARIZED CULTURE

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Polarization of opinion is a byproduct of democracy.

Constitutional government is better than autocracies. Or other totalitarian ways to manage society. Deliberations can be positive avenues through which possible actions are discerned, created and applied.

However, as good as democracies are, their kind of representative governance is messy—even frustrating. It is anything but quiet contemplation in an atmosphere of efficiency and certainty.

Decision-making seems to take forever as lawmakers debate incessantly. Trying to hammer out compromises. Their positions ‘poles’ apart.

Or if they align themselves with a party platform to show loyalty. To achieve goals emanating from a particular philosophy.

I have never served in an elected position as a legislative or congressional representative. Not something to be proud of. But like many Americans, I hold politics in low esteem.

Especially when candidates pander to crass attack ads paid for by political action committees. “PACs” are financially supported by corporations and special interest groups. They pay PACs huge amounts based on the 2010 Freedom of Speech rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Advertising companies with creative writers can easily sway public opinion. Through a combination of deceptive verbiage, sinister graphics, ominous voiceovers, and shady proclamations.

Americans have been hoodwinked into taking extreme positions by unscrupulous advertisers. By commercial broadcasters allowed to spew out anything they please with no restrictions. By social media giants filling our minds with intellectual detritus. Disgusting!

In 1964 Marshall McLuhan told us “the medium is the message,” taken from his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. He said the medium itself should be considered before accepting the message it delivers. In today’s world, that assertion applies to everything from emailed ads to TV sound bites. From bumper stickers to Twitter.

And we are heavily influenced by them, their perceived good way to fix the problem. They too often work as intended. Our education system does not help students guard against untethered hyperbole designed to convince people without supporting evidence. The awful part is that it can lead to mass hysteria. Acceptance of solutions that lead to revolution, war, and millions of deaths.

Many historians point to the 20th Century’s invention and use of commercial radio and motion pictures as media to effectively sway public opinion. To bring to the surface underlying fears and prejudices against human beings perceived to be dangerously different than ourselves. Skin color, religious views, cultural preferences, and political/economic viewpoints.

To make us afraid. Very afraid.

To the point many otherwise decent folks believed in genocide. The total elimination of the other fearsome culture.

Now, in the 21st Century, we have even more invasive media used to promote biases and polarization. The proliferation of unrestricted television and social media produce unverifiable information, used to justify existing prejudices or create new ones.

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Cooperation, politically referred to as bipartisanship, is now a sought-for goal in Congress and other representative groups. Advocated by those critical of the polarization. Fueled to overcome the hysteria caused by the purveyors of hate and narrow cultural viewpoints.  

Bipartisanship has existed throughout American history. Usually, it starts with an influential leader who articulately asserts a point-of-view through words or actions.  S/he enlightens with “ah ha” moments. “I never thought of it that way before” reactions.

That is the ultimate kind of service. Often produced by people brought to the brink of despair.  The example: Abraham Lincoln when he penned The Gettysburg Address.

Some highly principled people were intelligent and self-effacing enough to work together to find solutions to the nation’s problems. They were creative thinkers, articulate writers, and responsive negotiators.

Their service was equated with self-effacement. Simply the right thing to do. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, IF inspired me to provide that kind of service.

But Kipling was also an advocate of service in the guise of “the white man’s burden” genre. That interpretation of service caused the kind of superior feelings which resulted in many misguided missionary endeavors. Patronizing behaviors toward women and minority groups. The idea that those of us born with theoretically superior attributes should care for those born with inferior intelligence or abilities.

That kind of thinking was polarization of the worst kind. Should we be happy to serve others if they would just recognize their inferior status and show appreciation for our largess? Recognizing and accepting our Christian charity without seeking equality with us?

Service with strings attached. Service that creates the kind of resentment that seethes below. That makes polarization worse.

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As an educator, the service I try to provide is one in which students are given the intellectual, emotional, and academic tools to become contributors to humanity. My job as a teacher is to help my students progressively become ‘more.’

Many of my students were potentially already more than I. But sometimes had to be convinced of their precociousness.

Service with no strings attached. With no polarizing wall between who I am and who he or she will someday be.

With no fear of being dominated or the possibility of succumbing to the inclination to dominate another. Just knowing we are on this earth to serve each other’s welfare. Whatever way we can, thereby leaving a legacy for others to follow.

©2022 Stu Ervay – All Rights Reserved

SERVICE THROUGH WRITING

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In my opinion, writing is performing a service. Or a precursor to the offering of a service that is truly meaningful.

Because writing requires deep intellectual engagement before any action is started. A probe that goes deep into our selfhood and pulls out who and what we are, thereby giving us insights into the world in all its dimensions.

Writing causes a better understanding of our strengths, weaknesses, and potential.

Most of all, it makes our unique and beneficial leadership qualities come to the surface. And gives us courage to use them for the common good.

It is the reverse of the kind of service depicted in The Nun’s Story. Sister Luke was expected to disappear into a collective of those giving allegiance to a core set of beliefs. She was asked repeatedly to sacrifice everything she believed herself to be.

Her writing was limited to keeping medical notes used in nursing or a record of when she was too prideful. Or unable to comply with the rules of her order or proper living.

It worked somewhat, until that sacrifice became unbearable. Coping with the reality of war, the loss of her father, and trying to answer questions not provided by faith alone. To use her intellect and insights to confront evil and serve humanity in a creative way.

My experience in the military was similar. Allowing myself to buy into the military culture until I could not.

The tank is not an object that promotes warm feelings. Nor are its weapons, ammunition, and the human skills needed to make them work effectively. A tank is a death-dealing machine that can also cause massive destruction to buildings and infrastructure. No redeeming value except as a tool to kill and hurt other human beings. Those we identify as the enemy. People like us. Taught to identify us as the enemy.

During my time in the military I wrote letters. Often to my mother and father. Eventually to my fiancé, who later became my wife. Much of my writing focused on how I felt about my work.

That writing made me think about what I was doing at the time and how I felt about it.

By the time I left the Regular Army and National Guard, I had earned a master’s degree and begun a doctoral program in educational leadership. In the Guard, I was encouraged to attend the Advanced Armor Officer School at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

At age 26 I had already attained the rank of captain and was being groomed to become a field grade officer within a few years. Completing advanced combat courses, and later programs referred to as Command and General Staff Officers’ Courses. They pretty much assured promotion up to and through the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Those with advanced degrees who could also write, teach, and effectively manage a unit command were at a real advantage. Combat commanders, while often recognized for their courage and skills in leading successful campaigns under hostile fire, did not always achieve high rank.

As a student of history, it was evident that leaders like Dwight Eisenhower and Colin Powell were successful in the army because they communicated well. They accepted and succeeded in fulfilling difficult managerial responsibilities. Powell served as a small unit commander in Vietnam. But Eisenhower never had such an experience. His skills were both managerial and collaborative decision-making. Especially among diverse and domineering personalities such as those involved with the Allied War Effort in WW II.

And Eisenhower wrote very well.

I admired these men. But I often wondered if their accomplishments were more related to career success than selfless service. My ultimate conclusion was both.

As an 18-year-old private first class in an Army reserve unit, I was asked by a sergeant to conduct a short instructional program on how to use a particular piece of equipment. Since I had no idea how to use that equipment, I turned to the Army field manual. It soon became clear why the sergeant asked me to conduct the instruction.

The technical writing used in the manual was gobbledygook. Filled with military jargon and convoluted instructions. To develop a lesson plan, I rewrote the most critical part of the manual, creating a step-by-step visual for classroom use.

An officer who watched my instruction was critical of my rewriting the manual. But he admitted that the resultant lesson was more lucid and understandable. How insubordinate I was! To have the nerve to redo a document written by a college educated officer skilled in technical writing and use of that piece of equipment.

That experience taught me a valuable lesson. My initiative was a service to the Army and the men who participated in the class. To the disapproving officer, I was an insubordinate young soldier exercising an initiative that would hurt my chances for promotion.

Instead, I circumvented the system and became an officer. With the goal of serving competently, not to just advance my military career.

Eisenhower and Powell also circumvented the rigid “by the book” system. Eisenhower was the architect of the campaign to rid Europe of the Nazi scourge. His leadership often put him into conflict with politicians and subordinates. But his intelligence and communication skills overrode the opinions of those preoccupied with protocol and rigid strategies. Eisenhower became our president during the 1950s and applied those special skills.

Eisenhower’s fresh way of thinking and ability to communicate were more than career advantages. They were a genuine service to the nation.

Powell did much the same thing by reforming a dysfunctional Vietnam era military into the quality force it is today. A good career move. And a good service to his country.

After retirement from the military Powell became the founding Chairman of America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth. A group meant to mobilize people from every sector to build the character and competence of our country’s youth. Service through communicating. Through speeches and the written word.

We read, reflect, AND write to become more effective human beings. Those actions make us more than robotically motivated creatures programmed with stimulus-response software. They allow us to serve with sensitivity and moral awareness.

©2022 Stu Ervay – All Rights Reserved

SERVICE AND SACRIFICE

Principles

In the 1959 Hollywood film titled The Nun’s Story, Audrey Hepburn plays the lead character. A young Belgian woman who enters a 1930’s convent to commit herself to the service of others. The film was adapted from a book written by Kathryn Hulme, based on the life of Belgian nun Marie Louise Habets.   

The story’s theme reminds me of my own inclinations during the teen years. My family belonged to the Episcopal Church. It held many perspectives similar to the Roman Catholic outlook on faith and how it should be exercised.

The American Episcopal Church is the outgrowth of British Anglicanism, which emerged during the era of Henry VIII. One of the more intriguing aspects of the Episcopal belief system is the confluence of pious allegiance to rigorous doctrine and the Protestant focus on scripture while understanding its meaning.

To an Episcopalian of my era, the Book of Common Prayer was a mesmerizing guide, reciting how we should believe and act. First published in the mid-1550’s, it was modified over the centuries. The version we used was prepared in 1928. It caused us to regularly recite expressions of faith during worship in language aligned with doctrinal interpretations. To perpetually indoctrinate church members to both the meaning and uplifting language. Powerful and ecclesiastically significant.   

I became fascinated with the power of language in how we behave and believe. But only if our mindset is moved in that direction. The 1950s was not a decade that revered soundbites and supercilious intonations appealing to the emotions. Television, radio, and movie theaters moved us in that direction. But the power of public schools and other institutions with the mission to enlighten people was still pervasive.

The YMCA, YWCA and Scouting programs were in some ways just as powerful as churches. They helped to build a society in which character was based on acceptance of well-articulated principles of living. Principles written in merit badge requirements, and the YMCA’s challenges to behave in ways associated with Christian principles.

In my formative 1950s years, the hymns that meant the most to me were service-related and behavioral. Such as I Would Be True written by Howard Arnold Walter in 1906. It focuses on being pure, humble, brave, and constantly giving to others.

As Richard Rohr suggests in, Falling Upward, how we behave as we mature is often guided by what we put in our personality and spiritual “vessel” when young. “I Would Be True” seemed simple and straightforward when I was a preteen and young adult. Everything became complicated as I matured.

Nevertheless, the admonitions in my personality “vessel” were a good touchstone throughout the years. They still are. Even a compass loses its veracity when unknown magnetic forces pull the needle one way or another. Adjustments are made until circumstances bring us back on course.

In The Nun’s Story, Sister Luke finally realizes her youthful idealism is no match for the expectations of her chosen faith. Extracting “self” from “service” results in an unacceptable amount of personal suffering. The real-life Sister Luke, Marie-Louise Habets, goes on with her life as a nurse. Habets continued to serve God and humanity, using her original personality “vessel” as a touchstone. Her compass needle was pulled off its original course. But the service she provided was just as significant.

Rejecting who we fundamentally are by becoming fully selfless, is not always the best way to achieve God’s will.

God does not require us to suffer personally to serve others. Sometimes it happens that way. But it is not required to sublimate our sense of being one of God’s creatures to accomplish the betterment of others.

©2022 Stu Ervay – All Rights Reserved

 
 

WHY AMERICAN VETERANS SUFFER

Military Service,

Robert Dole served America well. A politician who achieved the status of statesman with his governmental service to the nation. He supported legislation to assist disabled people and others who needed assistance through no fault of their own.

He was also a grievously wounded veteran of World War II. Dole’s bodily wounds were significant. But they did not have a serious impact on his emotions or mental capacity. He redirected his energies in ways that overcame depression and ongoing anxiety.

People who have never served in the military can only imagine why veterans are suicidal or despondent to the point of being dysfunctional. They do not understand why veterans so often turn to alcohol and drugs. They do not understand why some cannot hold jobs, succeed in marriages, or become alienated from their own children. Nonveterans are puzzled over the anger they often encounter. Why those who served our nation honorably are homeless or in some other way dependent.

Nonveterans today feel gratitude toward veterans and thank them for their service on a regular basis. One reason is because the draft was eliminated in 1973. Our military now depends on volunteers.

A large military is no longer necessary in this era in which nations have such a technological advantage. Less than 8% of Americans are now veterans.

Why do we thank veterans? What do we really know about their sacrifices? Why do so many suffer?

Certainly, combat experiences such as Dole’s cause suffering. Sure, combat experiences play a major role for those in live fire action. Especially if they were wounded. Viewed others being killed or grievously hurt. Experienced battle-related deprivations.

Only a small percentage of veterans have been directly involved in a shooting war. Most veterans were in support roles of some kind. Intensely trained to be in a conflict that never happened. That was my experience. Trained as a tank platoon leader and company commander for possible deployment to fight the USSR during the Berlin Wall or Cuban Missile crises.

Why do so many veterans suffer?  Let’s start with some basics:

  1. Most veterans were in their late teens or early twenties when they joined the military. Their reasons for joining may have patriotic underpinnings. Their motivation to join may have been for personal reasons. To start their adult lives personally or vocationally. An alternative to attending college or an entry level civilian job.
  • The military culture, while very demanding, is orderly and sustaining. Rules must be obeyed. Work processes are prescribed. Lodging, meals, and clothing are provided at subsistence levels. Medical services are provided. Other support systems are in place.
  • The military offers opportunities for travel and other exciting or enjoyable experiences. Until the assignment becomes stressful and frightening.

Conflicting aspects of the military:

  1. The military is quite hidebound when it comes to personal behavior. On the surface it seems extremely moralistic. Those rules of behavior, while frequently winked at, give the military a righteous look and feel. However, its fundamental mission is the exercise of violence for the purpose of dominating or killing an enemy. In psychological terms, this mission creates a high level of “cognitive dissonance.” Especially among those raised with religious admonitions related to sustaining life and providing care for others.
  • Various kinds of fear are prevalent in the military. Obviously, the fear associated with being in harm’s way is the most powerful. But fear can also be associated with the kind of work being done: dangerous equipment, weapons, and substances. The fear of making a mistake or a bad decision. The injury or death of fellow service members.
  • The military is like a big family. Its members are well taken care of so long as they follow the rules and make good contributions. It feels like something bigger than we are. It makes us feel more important than most civilians.
  • The military gives its members a sense of purpose rarely experienced in civilian life. Dole had a well-defined purpose before he joined the Army and stuck with it. Many honorably discharged soldiers do not have a contingent purpose in life. They do not know how to create one with dedicated follow-through.
  • Because the military can have a family feel, the sense of camaraderie can be intense, even in peacetime. During combat or rigorous preparation for an expected conflict, the emotional connections become even more powerful. Civilian life offers nothing like it unless a veteran joins the police or first responders.

The Veteran’s Administration and those who counsel men and women leaving the military try to help veterans overcome their problems. Typically, fellow veterans make the best counselors and helpmates.

Fellow church members may help the veteran with day-to-day struggles. Help the veteran work through emotional and practical problems.

Most of all, a church can replicate the sense of family and purpose a veteran once felt. Dedication to a worthy purpose. A sense of goal-directed camaraderie. Comfort associated with close human contact and community. And mutual emotional bulwarks as one faces the certainty of physical decline and death.

©2022 Stu Ervay – All Rights Reserved

REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN MILITARY SERVICE

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My service in the Army was not from an interest in conquering, destroying, or killing. Not because of a fascination with weapons and the machinery of war.

Not to demonstrate superficial patriotism or allegiance to an American manifest destiny. Or a need to assert our cultural or political beliefs for the purpose of dominating others.

I served to assure our freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. The “Four Freedoms” often mentioned as rationale for our involvement in World War II.

For a Christian, war is antithetical to everything we hold sacred. Yet, to preserve those sacred values we must sometimes do what is necessary to stand firm. Then strive even more diligently to serve humanity in ways taught us by Jesus Christ.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was once known as Decoration Day. Created in 1868, it commemorated those who died in the American Civil War. Flags were placed at the graves of soldiers killed in that awful conflict.

The word freedom had diverse meanings in that era. The nation was finally free of overt and organized military conflict. Most citizens lived their lives free from the possibility of violence promulgated by bands of marauders. Or other groups inspired by hatred and narrow belief systems.

Slaves were freed from bondage.

Americans freely expressed opinions and found ways to rebuild a broken nation. Just as Abraham Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address:

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln’s phrases, “under God” and “new birth of freedom” connected to his reference to “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”  Those aspirations were linked to the American Constitution. The glue that preserves the union under a watchful and caring God.

The word freedom, then, does not mean unfettered license to do whatever we want. Nor does it give those with personal ambitions mixed with rhetorical skills, charisma, and a perceived sensitivity to populist inclinations the right to marshal followers for the purpose of domination.

Our American system, with its effective “government of the people,” controls the ambitions of those who would convert the people’s freedom into an opportunity to exercise their own will.

Unfortunately, the 20th Century experienced too many ambitious leaders who dominated their own countries. They attempted to spread their ambitions and power beyond their borders: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Hideki Tojo, Mao Tse-tung, and a multitude of others.

God has given human beings free will. But its unrestrained application can bring misery to many. Unrestrained free will, if allowed to work against God’s will, destroys us.

Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36 KJV).

Freedom, therefore, is not easy or unrestrained behavior. For the Christian, it is abiding by the teachings of Jesus. For an American, it is exercised within the limits of our Constitution and the body of laws emanating from it.

World War II was probably the greatest example of how we human beings can destroy ourselves. Especially if we allow those who assert their own sense of freedom as being more important than the freedom of others.  World War II directly or indirectly killed 85 million people. They died from violence and diseases caused by war-caused deprivations.

Americans have long held mixed emotions about all things military. We hesitated three years before finally seeing the need to enter World War I. Anti-war sentiment, led by famous people such as Charles Lindbergh, kept us out of World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Those experiences changed our political outlook and behavior. One important outcome was the emphasis on continuing readiness. An intense ongoing interaction with the world community. Our intervention into the Korean War was based on containing the spread of Communism. Its results are still unclear. Even dubious.

In 1961 and 1962 I was an army officer participating in one of our country’s readiness efforts. Preparing to fight the USSR over the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile build-up. Later in that decade we moved beyond readiness and again tried to contain Communism in Vietnam. Armor could not be used effectively in the terrain of Vietnam, so I was not deployed.

As a Christian, I held deep reservations about serving as a combat officer. Fortunately, my service ended before deployment to a shooting war.

What sustained me during my years in the military were four phrases published during World War II. Later, these phrases were graphically depicted by artist Norman Rockwell:

The Four Freedoms:

  • The freedom from fear.
  • The freedom from want.
  • The freedom of speech.
  • The freedom of religion.

Those phrases aligned with the words of Jesus, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

The current Russian government and its military attack on Ukraine uses fear and deprivation to conquer another nation. Restricting free speech. Using the Russian Orthodox Church to make religion the tool of national pride. 

Memorial Day is more than honoring those who suffered and died. Rather, it is a time to acknowledge the values for which they sacrificed themselves. Values taught us by Jesus Christ Our Lord, who makes us free indeed.

Through Jesus we have no need to fear or feel deprived. Through Jesus we can speak our truth. Worship with the love and conviction we have in our hearts. Follow his commandment recorded in John 15:12, ”Love one another, just as I have loved you.”

©2022 Stu Ervay – All Rights Reserved