CATEGORIES


Optimism Kills

Eric Wilson - 2013


With just a glimpse of the headlines, anyone can clearly see that things are bad and getting worse.  Unfortunately – as people keep fighting to preserve liberty and to change policies and institutions – truth is (and facts are proving out) that the cycle has progressed forward and is already beyond repair.  It is no longer a matter of if American society is going into bondage but rather how long it will be enslaved.
 Yes, this is tough to come to grips with and requires a different perspective that many do not want to concede.  There are many that continue to say “just one more thing (policy, election, protest, etc.) is going to turn everything around.”  Sadly, though, the next election comes, bill gets debated, and liberties get lost.  They do not want to face that the best days for a generation may be behind us and that every season must come to an end.  For these people – as the next headline comes out and the next band is tightened around our wrists and ankles – it becomes more difficult to accept.
 It was from this place of despair that a friend asked how I handle what is happening.  The problem was that he was stuck in a paradigm of choosing between optimism (hoping to change things back to the way they were) and fear (giving up and becoming pessimistic about where we are today).  In a book by Jim Collins, “Good to Great,” he talks about a principle called the Stockdale Paradox (named after the highest-ranking American prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam).  In summary, the Stockdale Paradox states there is a different paradigm and one which we should be realistic about our current circumstances while maintaining faith about the future.


The story of General Stockdale – who during the Vietnam War was held captive for eight years and tortured 22 times before finally making it home – is an inspirational message and benchmark for thinking during the times in which we live today.  He was asked in an interview how he could make it those eight years – being tortured – and never lose his mind or faith when so many others in lesser situations folded and could not make it out. 
He responded, “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
 He lived every day of his life in captivity with faith that he would get out and that all of what he was going through would someday come to an inevitable end.  On the more difficult days, he looked at the painful moments of reality and channeled them mentally to the right places to help survive by maintaining an unwavering faith in the end game.  He made – and kept – a commitment to his self that he would survive whatever brutality and horror he faced.
 The more shocking response came when Stockdale was asked why so many others broke down or why many died of exhaustion or mental breakdown.  When asked what the difference was between him and those that could not take it, Stockdale replied, “They were optimists.” On the surface, this may sound contradictory.  How can he say that he had unwavering faith he would get out and yet not be an optimist?
 Stockdale explained it himself saying, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”  He continued, “They were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’  And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go.  Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’  And Easter would come, and Easter would go.  And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again.  And they died of a broken heart.”
 Putting this in context for today, those that pine for the “olden days” or put all of their hope in the changing of the guard are the optimists that die in their own disappear.  For the individuals that fully grasp the realities facing the nation today, survival means shifting their paradigms from short-term pragmatism to principled realism.  It requires they stop looking back and begin looking forward as the sun sets and we plunge into full-fledged darkness.
 The first thing that must be done is to admit there is a problem.  The system is on the verge of collapse – we have created an unsustainable bubble financially, liberties have been stripped from all of us, and abuse of power is rampant.  Socially, we are in decay.  The traditional family unit is the exception and we have become tolerant of evil.
 It is time to get real – the new fourth turning of society and the economy is here!  There must be (in the words of General Stockdale) “discipline to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality, whatever that might be.”  As the optimists try to cling to hope and change from the next election or policy or mourn over the past, we need to take the lessons of Stockdale and be realistic about our current circumstances and faithful about the future.
 The new focus does not ignore what is currently happening but prioritizes preparation for the future state.  It is getting back to the lowest common denominator and focusing your energies on preserving self, family, and community.  This means unplugging from the status quo and becoming an independent by breaking free from political labels and party loyalty.  It means becoming more self-reliant and severing the ties of dependency and bondage.  It is putting time and sacrifice into improving marriages, developing close-knit families, and raising children.  It requires one to ground themselves and their families at the intersection of faith, reason, and personal responsibility.  Lastly, it means strengthening local communities by working self-sacrificially alongside neighbors and creating a network that stands on its own and is prepared to help take care of its own.
 It is not that the war has been lost.  The good news is that – like Stockdale suffering through his bondage – I, too, refuse to believe there will not be a tomorrow.  There is a new day on the horizon, and we even have a Biblical hope in this promise.  The spirit of liberty is an inalienable right and dwells in everyone, and – somewhat ironically – the natural consequences of bondage will be the resurgence in spiritual faith, the renaissance of enlightenment, and the renewed cry for freedom.
 So, how to answer my friend’s anguished question of how I handle everything that is going on today? How do I face the daily barrage of negative news and get through these times?
 The truth is I am looking forward and have complete faith we will get through this.  As sure as spring follows winter and things need to perish to rise again; as sure that as night comes, daylight follows.  I hope to say – when spring finally arrives – as Stockdale said “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
 I could not tell you when or how or even if it will occur within my lifetime, but I never doubt not only that a new day will come but have faith that “all things work together for good, to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose.”