An officer and a gentleman
I recall arriving at the United States Naval Academy as a plebe. Those of us who entered via way of first being enlisted men (women were not then permitted to attend the academy) arrived earlier than the other plebes and were Immediately given the speech that we were now somebody. We were officers and gentlemen. Although the connotation was that enlisted men and women were not somebody there was also the intention of imprinting on our young minds that we now had responsibilities to begin to leave aside our immature childish ways and comport ourselves as future leaders and as gentlemen. The fact that we were also lowly plebes who would be remined of subservient status daily or even hourly by the upper classmen was not seen as contradictory except to those of us who were the lowly plebes. We would soon be performing seemingly impossible physical contortions such as clamping on to the formal dining room tables in our dress white uniforms and reciting from memory such compositions as: “Sir, sir is a subservient word surviving from the surly day of old Serbia, when certain serfs, too ignorant to remember their lord’s names, yet too servile to blaspheme them, circumvented the situation by surrogating the subservient word sir, by which I now belatedly address a certain senior cirroped who correctly surmised that I was syrupy enough to say sir after every word I said, sir.” The fact that I still remember this ditty attest to the soundness of their indoctrination in the fine art of memorizing while practicing being humble. Of course humility only lasted until we were the upperclassmen terrorizing the incoming class of victims. Yet, somewhere in this process or perhaps in spite of it some of those at Annapolis, West Point and the other service academies we began to learn what it meant to truly be an officer and a gentlemen.
It is now some 58 years since I first heard the speech about becoming an officer and a gentlemen and I am now learning the same lesson, but at the feet of the Buddha. Interesting when I first heard the phase the meaning was to separate. Now I hear it as a call to embrace my shared humanity with others. In some ways General Mattis has, it seems to me, has learned to apply this understanding in the context of his role as a mentor.
Again I am reminded that, if not careful, I often miss the Buddha who appears in the guise of generals, actors, politicians, laborers, and even people like me.
Written September 4, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I recall arriving at the United States Naval Academy as a plebe. Those of us who entered via way of first being enlisted men (women were not then permitted to attend the academy) arrived earlier than the other plebes and were Immediately given the speech that we were now somebody. We were officers and gentlemen. Although the connotation was that enlisted men and women were not somebody there was also the intention of imprinting on our young minds that we now had responsibilities to begin to leave aside our immature childish ways and comport ourselves as future leaders and as gentlemen. The fact that we were also lowly plebes who would be remined of subservient status daily or even hourly by the upper classmen was not seen as contradictory except to those of us who were the lowly plebes. We would soon be performing seemingly impossible physical contortions such as clamping on to the formal dining room tables in our dress white uniforms and reciting from memory such compositions as: “Sir, sir is a subservient word surviving from the surly day of old Serbia, when certain serfs, too ignorant to remember their lord’s names, yet too servile to blaspheme them, circumvented the situation by surrogating the subservient word sir, by which I now belatedly address a certain senior cirroped who correctly surmised that I was syrupy enough to say sir after every word I said, sir.” The fact that I still remember this ditty attest to the soundness of their indoctrination in the fine art of memorizing while practicing being humble. Of course humility only lasted until we were the upperclassmen terrorizing the incoming class of victims. Yet, somewhere in this process or perhaps in spite of it some of those at Annapolis, West Point and the other service academies we began to learn what it meant to truly be an officer and a gentlemen.
It is now some 58 years since I first heard the speech about becoming an officer and a gentlemen and I am now learning the same lesson, but at the feet of the Buddha. Interesting when I first heard the phase the meaning was to separate. Now I hear it as a call to embrace my shared humanity with others. In some ways General Mattis has, it seems to me, has learned to apply this understanding in the context of his role as a mentor.
Again I am reminded that, if not careful, I often miss the Buddha who appears in the guise of generals, actors, politicians, laborers, and even people like me.
Written September 4, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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