Red Shirts (Part Two)

PART TWO

Let me open with another, albeit shorter, PSA: within this article, I will reference Part One, so if you haven't read that, please do. That's all. And away we go...

Remember when I mentioned in Part One about my enjoyment of reading biographies of figures of history? Well, I may have taken this to an extreme as a young adult. Additionally, I have a deep interest in history, so I've read and watched a lot about history in general. In doing this, my admiration for historical figures and their accomplishments grew. I did study a few of these in greater depth and gathered a few things from this.

One of my great mentors in life, Skip Ross, also studied historical and influential figures. His favorite in the historical realm was Winston Churchill. I ended up reading and watching a great deal about this man. The aim of his life was to be the Prime Minister of Great Britain. As most of us know, he achieved this and was a crucial figure in World War 2. While most of us know that part. The part that most of us often overlook is that his path to his goal was anything but straight.

During his younger days, he seemed to be making good headway into becoming Prime Minister when he initiated a military campaign that was a disaster. After this, he effectively became an outsider in political life. He then ended up switching political parties, which made most suspicious of him. Still, he kept working at rebuilding his political ties while becoming a prolific author. When the threat arose in central Europe, he kept writing and advocating about his perspectives. With war finally imminent, he was thrust into the role of Prime Minister with the war all but lost. He then went on to rally the British people and help win the war.

His journey is a very interesting one to me. He battled depression and a host of other circumstances yet kept striving toward his goal. I can look at his service during the war and see how his experiences leading to that helped prepare him and shape him into what was needed during those critical five years. What I take away from it is that he knew from a very early age what his calling and his end goal was. I admit to being envious of this.

My favorite historical figure was Lincoln. His life, for the most part, was a very difficult one. He seemed to go through tragedy after tragedy. He may have coped with this and the accompanying depression by being a workaholic, but his relentless pursuits brought rivals together in his effort to save the union. He kept moving forward, kept the nation together, and got the job done. 

Finally, another that I am often inspired by is Mother Teresa. She didn't seek out to make a name for herself. She simply wanted to do something to serve God, and so she went into the streets and loved people. She brought the love of God to others. In her case, she just kept repeating the same process of loving people and encouraging others to do the same. As John Maxwell remarked, others went to Rome and wrote papers, she went into the streets of Calcutta and loved.

Here are three people who are very inspiring to me. Some may be inspiring to each of you. I can tell you characteristics I chose to emulate from each of these. At the same time, I also took away the idea that if I didn't do something impactful on that level, then my life would not have as much meaning as these inspiring heroes. As I've aged and felt that level of achievement seem farther away, I can look to Churchill and recall that he became Prime Minister far later in life. Sometimes this brings the hope that things happening now are occurring to shape me for some work in the future. Even with that thought, my ruminations about my own lack of high-level accomplishment has at times made me feel unworthy of the gifts I was given. At times, it has felt like such a waste.

If you know me, before you give me your sympathy or empathy, I didn't share these last couple of thoughts to garner those things. More so, I put them out there so that others might realize that, if you feel unaccomplished at times, you are not alone. Perhaps the desire to be impactful and successful is a trait that unites us as humans, built on something foundational to our creation and purpose for being. I don’t want to live my second half of life remembering what I thought life was going to be and comparing it to something that seems lesser. I realized there must be another way to look at it, perhaps a more accurate and more encouraging perspective to take. This is what led me to continue to reflect on my own role in life, and I will share more about this in Part Three.

Author: Mike Cooke

Mike Cooke is a Dad, Circle A Leadership Team member Emeritus, a good neighbor, a follower of Jesus, a Disney parks enthusiast, and a work in progress. He is also a contributing author to the book, Daily Disciplines.