I watched the movie Pearl Harbor this week. The movie is a drama based on real historical events with a fine cast of players. “A date which will live in Infamy” as President Roosevelt described the events as he asked for a declaration of War. The attack came as a surprise as the Empire of Japan had been in conversation with the USA to maintain peace in the Pacific. A series of Japanese raids in the Pacific called FDR to lead our country in our national defense. In an early meeting with the Joint Chiefs if Staff the mood was somber as FDR laid out a bold plan to retaliate on the home Island of Japan. The military leaders said it was impossible. FDR who was then confined to wheelchair pushed himself to his feet and stood without assistance and left no one in the room with a question that anything was possible. On April 18th, 1942 a plan offered by a submarine officer to launch bombers off of a carrier deck to allow a strike on Tokyo was carried out. The damage to the targets was not significant in the scope of the destruction at Pearl Harbor. The potential suicide mission was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle of the U S Air Force. Why would this retaliation be so important! Great leaders provide genuine inspiration that includes a sincere level of empathy for the team and the task at hand. The Doolittle Raid was tracked in every detail by FDR and he knew and appreciated the risks and potential sacrifice for his troops. A successful strike on the apparently safe Japanese Home Islands, demonstrated that they were vulnerable and perhaps more importantly it provided a needed boost to American morale. The heroism and self less commitment to our democracy has been demonstrated in many times of crisis. I am hopeful and ever optimistic that we will one day find a leader who brings us together around the “why” that was outlined by our founding fathers.
I just finished reading the Simon Sinek book “Start with Why”, although the examples are now a bit dated the basic premise is well proven. Knowing your “Why” gives you a filter to make choices, at work and at home. Simon says, “it is one of life’s greatest joys to wake up in the morning…every morning, with a clear sense of why that day matters, why every day matters.” Franklin Roosevelt reminds us—“When you come to the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on”. “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” And finally and very pertinent today “the virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the Sea.”
Just as “true” today, FDR stated. “This point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity-or it will move apart.”
Enjoy each day. Mike