Red Shirts (Part Three)

PART THREE

This is the third and final installment of ponderings on purpose. Thanks to the readers for coming along on the journey.

In the previous segments, I shared some thoughts about my personal calling and “role” in life, and about how I have battled feelings of disillusionment and comparison to others. In all honestly, the sadness which would come from the thought of having failed my creator by squandering the gifts I was provided is strong. In working through this, I began to wonder if perhaps the role I'm supposed to play is a “background role” or “supporting role” or one that is often not remembered. Earlier I mentioned the Red Shirts of Star Trek – background characters who moved the plot along. Recently I began watching one of the latest reimaginings of the Star Trek franchise: Star Trek Lower Decks. Interestingly enough, this show focuses on what would typically be the “behind the scenes” characters. While the show takes their roles to the extremes for entertainment purposes, it still reminds us that there are people working often in the background that are necessary for the people who are leading to accomplish what they do.  In Queen's song, Hammer to Fall the song starts out:

 Here we stand or here we fall

History won't care at all

Make the bed light the light

Lady mercy won't be home tonight yeah

You don't waste no time at all

Don't hear the bell but you answer the call

It comes to you as to us all

We're just waiting

For the Hammer To Fall

To me, this song is speaking about the people who answer the call to go to battle, or to work, and to do what is needed to get the job done. They aren't famous.  In fact, to most of us and history, they are mostly nameless. For many of us, these people could also be our teachers, coaches, friends, and parents. Sometimes we recall their names and sometimes we don't, but we remember how they impacted us. History is filled with people that showed up to fight a battle or work in a mine so their children could eat, or who went without to feed their children or pay for school. We don't recall them by name, and yet to some people in the time and place, they were the larger-than-life hero. In pondering this, I began to see that while the things that have to be done are often not amazing or glamorous feats, they are needed, and someone's gotta do it.

In the Broadway musical, Hamilton, we come to know that Aaron Burr will “wait for it”.  He will just keep going along, waiting for the big opportunity. Hamilton on the other hand just keeps striving. The question that Hamilton asks Burr after Burr has refused to be an author of the Federalist Papers:

We won the war

What was it all for?

And he goes on:

Burr, we studied and we fought and we killed

For the notion of a nation we now get to build

For once in your life, take a stand with pride

I don’t understand how you stand to the side

For Hamilton as portrayed in the popular musical, he finds success by continuously fighting and climbing up hill and going and going. In contrast, Burr is in motion and doing, yet at a much slower pace. Hamilton takes aim at multiple things and is off and running in multiple directions. Burr is doing a few things, listening and positioning himself so when the big opportunity presents, he can pursue it with vigor.

Perhaps the Red Shirts of the world may also find themselves presented with the opportunity to step up into a limelight role. Kind of like Ana from Frozen, doing the next right thing until her purpose and calling become clear.

And yet, beyond this possibly of an opportunity coming down the road, my conclusion at this point is that whether I'm a key figure in history or a mostly nameless roll, either way my life is essential. Either way, my life is important to God, and that is what really counts. Taking a step back from this, while I was grappling with these thoughts during the summer of 2022, I was provided with several epiphany moments.

Skip often talked about creating a description of the person you want to be and continuing to strive to become that person. This description will change as time goes on, and you find you want to focus on different areas, or perhaps you determine something isn't as important as it once was. This was coming back to me as I was trying to resolve the question of how to measure success. If humans as a society have created artificial measuring sticks for success in areas like money, fame, and power, and we need to disconnect from these societal measures to really live life, then how am I to determine if I'm succeeding? 

I finally came to the conclusion that creating the description of who I wanted to be and then reviewing where I was actually at versus the description was what I needed to do. Then another epiphany happened. While discussing the concept of a proper self-image, my friend Kevin Hughes noted that the proper self-image was ever changing if we are really living a dynamic life. Dynamic, by definition, means constant change. When I realized this true definition of the word dynamic, and realized that Skip named his seminar the Dynamic Living Seminar, it was like finding an easter egg in a Marvel movie for me. It means that we are ever-growing, and even the target is changing, and that's okay as we try to free the masterpiece from the stone.

In taking this out a little further as we write the description and then begin to really take an inventory of ourselves, we will come to better recognize our strengths and how we can best use them. Leaning into our strengths and trying to maximize them and strive to become the fulfillment of the description will lead to a successful life, whether history records it that way or not. Further, it is not really about the accomplishments, or feats, or colossal failures, rather it is about the person we become.

That's where I landed in walking through this myriad of emotions on reflecting on my life and whether I have lived up to my potential. I move forward with hope that by adopting this process I will make the most of my gifts. I hope reading about my journey through these thoughts will help you in some way.

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.