What you’ll find below:
The WASPs of WWII
Story: why we need it, how we’ve lost it
Four actions for every day
If you want to know a person, look at the stories they tell. Look at the stories that define them.
Our stories give us power. This is the essence of this time.
This month:
I am remembering the WASPS of World War II— the women Army service pilots, who pushed and pushed and pushed for the opportunity to serve their country, fighting against the Nazis who wanted to control the world. They were not allowed to fight— but over a thousand of these women, who demanded the right to contribute against cultural mores and norms, trained the men on every aircraft in the inventory at the time, ferried planes, and towed airborne targets for artillery practice.
38 of them died. 37 were injured. None of them were initially given any military recognition at all for the work they did to support the war.
When I served in the U.S. military, I did not know the stories of the WASPs. The internet was new. We didn’t have the access we have today.
But the power of story is strong. Knowing these stories now, after my service, I find that they strengthen my understanding of my own work. They work, even retroactively, to strengthen the cohesion of a narrative it’s taken me years after my service to truly understand. I am a part of a long standing legacy. That gives me strength and courage.
Organizations know this also. The stories we tell within our organizations build or erode pride. Missing the opportunity to tell a story misses the opportunity to build that cohesion. We grow through challenges and change, and how we respond to these challenges. What values do we allow to emerge? How does that bring us together? (can you think of an idea your team or company discusses in the context of a story? How you made it through COVID? Or a product recall?)
Among many recent failures, our culture has allowed our heroes and heroines to be stripped from us in the name of progressivism— now I’ve said it— inserting instead stories of victimization and sometimes very concerning cases of bias and prejudice, often stories about people that have no connection at all to the students. This isn’t inherently bad, until those stories replace all other stories, and there are no heroes left, nobody with which the students can identify. And there is no understanding of or investigation of real values, because students are being trained to worry too much about themselves. (this is schools, and this is technology, and this is our culture that is to blame)
Our culture has also allowed excellence to be stripped away— and of course, heroes are examples of excellence, if often flawed— in the name of a misplaced understanding of access, underestimating the potential of every student and what it is they might contribute to the world. It is also a blatant disregard for the developmental needs of young people— to look up to people to emulate, to wrestle with ideas and values, and to determine where they will stand.
I spoke with another parent about concerns in the classroom recently— specifically about the only book that had been assigned for the term (in some classrooms, there are no books assigned at all, another problem). It was a lower level of reading than should be expected of a high school student, and filled with profanity and sexual references.
“You’re someone who would say something,” this mom said to me. “But most of us— we’re just not comfortable with that. What can you do?”
There is a lot you can and you must do. There is much that is demanded of every one of us, right now.
In a more classical education model, Plutarch might be included, Plutarch, who compared the lives of great Greeks and Romans facilitating conversations about what is greatness, what is courage, what is honor. And Homer, and Shakespeare, revisiting the same themes, requiring us to interrogate: what is good? What is beautiful? What is true? I’m inspired by teachers and ideas like this one. (want to add some new stories? Order and read The Small and the Mighty aloud at the dinner table.)
This is why the stories we tell matter, and the people who have taken over school curricula and libraries know it. (people on both sides of the polarization in our country are culpable, in different regions of our country).
At home, we are reading of the founding of our country at the dinner table. We are lingering over the Declaration of Independence, the words of Thomas Jefferson which, for the first time in the history of our world— did you know that? Do you know how radical and how incredible is this country we have?— established an independent nation, independent of monarchy, run by the people. And the Constitution— the longest standing document in the oldest democracy in the world.
I wore the uniform of the United States Army for ten years. I served on three continents. I led three line units of attack helicopters. I swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In a democratic republic, we support and defend ideas— not people, not interest groups, not parties.
Today, this matters.
Today, in the White House, a president will address Congress. This is a President and Vice President who are using the words and the stories of the enemy—and I mean enemy quite literally— the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin who has not only stated goals of empire, but also stated goals of the destruction of the United States. Russia, which, make no mistake about it, regardless of words used at the highest levels of the American government, invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine three years ago. And this past week, the United States voted with Russia at the United Nations against condemning the invasion of Ukraine. The President and the Vice President— who allowed Russian state controlled media into the Oval Office but NOT Reuters or the Associated Press— bullied one of the heroes of our time and another head of state, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in an ugly and purposeful attempt at humiliation. This exchange and this vote undermines the service of every veteran over the past eighty years. It blatantly disrespects every service member who died serving our country for the values that we espouse.
This women’s history month, I want every one of us to remember story.
Think of the stories you tell— and be sure they reflect your values. Think of the stories you are telling or allowing your children to be told— and be very sure they reflect and pass on your values.
Remember these stories:
Remember our country’s bravest landing on Normandy. Remember this. Watch Saving Private Ryan. Remember that the story of our country is the story of standing up against everything that Hitler stands for. Remember Rosa Parks, not giving up her seat. Go look these stories up. Share them at the dinner table.
And if your values are that of Putin, move to Russia. Get out. There is no place for authoritarianism in our country.
The U.S. has been a beacon of light— with plenty of mistakes, yes— but a beacon of light in this world until this year. This is the year our history changed. I’m not a fan of words like “powers of darkness,” but we are siding, this year, with darkness. We are siding against allies we have stood by for a hundred years. We are siding as a country with authoritarianism, with destruction, with terror, with everything that is opposed to the stories that we tell.
I do not side with darkness. I side with our allies, for all of the challenges there might be in a free world. I side with the principles of our Declaration of Independence. I side with the ideas of our Constitution.
If you are among those who elected the current administration, you are not stuck. I have to believe many of you did not believe that what is happening would happen. Now, you MUST BE a part of the solution. And it’s going to be difficult. You have a responsibility to make this country right again. Figure out how you’re going to do that.
If you’re on the other side, and you’re the one that spent hours agonizing over speciously supported ideas that arose recently and impact a tiny interest group— you need to get out of your bubble. Think universally. What are the values that matter? How do we bring that back to the core of our country?
Not everyone will like this values work. One side of you will say that values are relative, and you’re wrong (watch this recent talk by David Brooks). One side will say that only your specific ideas around specific values matter— and that is also wrong.
When you speak out, some will ask you: who do you think you are? That means you’re doing something that matters. Nothing great is accomplished in our comfort zones— and we need greatness, and we need it from all of us, and we need it now. (Daniel Pink recently reminded us of Stanford professor Bob Sutton’s finding that if you are leading, at least 10% of people will probably hate you, and if that’s not the case, you’re playing it too safe.)
“If what is right and wrong depends on what each individual feels, then we are outside the bounds of civilization.” - Walter Lippman
I believe that we can reclaim our country, and I will believe that until the day that I die. I believe that every single one of us needs to stand up and be clear and strong about the stories that matter, the stories that make our country great.
What stories will you share this Women’s History Month?
I want to know— share the stories that inspire you in the comments. Share this post— and include the stories that motivate you to action.
Where can you stand up, and speak loudly and well, and remember what is good and true and beautiful and ensure that those universal values are what we teach and what we demand of ourselves and our government?
We need to be better, collectively and individually, to meet the requirements of today. Here is where I’d start (print these out or write them down and put them on your mirror where you brush your teeth):
Actions for every day:
Speak out and speak up. Call out lies. Stand up for truth. Organize. Call your representative. EVERY DAY.
Do a kindness, big or small. Especially small.
Take care of yourself and your family.
Decide what YOUR story is going to be. OWN YOUR STORY.
Will you stand with me and work for good? Will you get out of your comfort zone to speak up for what’s right?
Love,
Shannon
PS: please follow Steve Schmidt’s The Warning if you are not already.
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