[April 14, 2022] Be more than you can be. Do not just accept who you are. You could be way more than you think you could ever be. What do you want to be? Do you want to be who you are today? Or, do you want to strive towards what is better?
Whatever you think you can be, you can do better, much better. You cannot know how much better you can be. But you will, if you set your mind to it.
When I joined the U.S. Army many years ago, I met Drill Sergeant Bryant. My introduction to Sergeant Bryant was not a happy one for the 35 recruits in his Basic Combat Training platoon. I was about to learn that it takes more than intellect and physical strength to be a good person, to be satisfied with life, and to be someone others look up to as credible. I hated Sergeant Bryant because I saw him as an arrogant jerk and he made my life miserable, but he showed us newbies how to be real Soldiers and that he was going to show us we could much more than we thought possible.
For me, the Army was an introduction to humility. The military experience showed me that there was an element of humanness that transcends the intellect. It also taught me that I was a novice in understanding people and also that I was poorly adapted to use human-made tools (weapons, armored vehicles, and such). Most importantly, I learned that I could be more than I thought I could ever be.
I learned in the military that my “potential” as a Soldier was more than I could imagine possible and that I had to be more. This philosophy has driven my life more than anything else; that I can improve my future self and do so consciously. Joining the Army was a way that allowed me to meet reality and to understand human nature and what it is like to be more than a good person.
Laying on his desk in his office, located at the back of our wooden barracks was a book titled, “I’m Okay, You’re Okay.” Published in 1967, this self-help book by psychiatrist Thomas Harris was a best seller on the New York Times’ bestseller list in 1972. Sergeant Bryant had me standing at attention in front of him (for some minor infraction) and spent a full five minutes screaming at me for being stupid. He picks up the book and says, “Satterfield, you ain’t okay because you gonna be a Soldier.” I was scared to death and didn’t really understand his point.
Many years later, I was walking through the Atlantic City airport when I stopped to buy a book. On the discount table was the book, “I’m Okay, You’re Okay.” Sergeant Bryant’s message clicked in my head. Yeah, I’d finally figured out what he meant. He wanted me and “his” platoon to push beyond the impossible. If he said, “attack that hill,” we would do so without hesitation and we would win. Too many people are satisfied with their station in life or are afraid to make improvements. Sergeant Bryant made us better and convinced us that we had the power to do so ourselves.
I also learned that the goal of life is not drinking beer on the beach watching the waves roll in. Thanks Sergeant Bryant for trashing that idea.
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Please read my new book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).
Excellent article, Gen. Satterfield. I never really understood the comment “be more than you can be.” The latter part of that comment now makes a bit more sense. Thanks for this article and please, allow me to say HAPPY EASTER to all your readers and our families.
Yes, Happy Easter and blessings to all.
“Be all you can be.” Great US Army slogan. One of the best. But the implication is, and this is very very important, you are not who you could be but you will have to work your butt off to be who you can be.
Another fabulous article by Gen. Satterfield and one that resonates with me. If you are a person who is not satisfied with who you are (and that should be us all), then work to improve your lot in life. Just don’t watch tv and play computer games.
Let’s home someone actually pays attention to this article. I agree with General Satterfield, never be satisfied with who you are, but accept it, because you are doing things to make your life better each day, even if it is incrementally better.
I was in English class in High School and assigned to read the book, “I’m Okay, You’re Okay.” I don’t remember much because that assignment was a few years ago. What I do remember was the idea that we are inherently good people just because of who we are. I think the idea was that we should not be sad or disappointed in our lives. But, there was no real effort or room for improvement. I don’t think the author actually addresses that, maybe I’m wrong but someone can correct me.
“Too many people are satisfied with their station in life or are afraid to make improvements.” That quote is a great summary of where our problem in America lies. We are so rich and so spoiled that getting better does not even enter our minds. We just want ‘entertainment.; Now, while entertainment has value, and Gen. Satterfield makes good note of that, it is not the goal. Just as is that ‘happiness’ is not our goal. Being satisfied with our lives is the goal and that is achieved by adopting the greatest amount of responsibility that we can bear.
Excellent summary of what Gen. Satterfield is telling us. Well done, Eric! 👍
Yep, ERic always does a good job. The idea here in Gen. Satterfield’s leadership forum is that we throw around ideas, critique and support them. Then we see what ideas rise to the top. Those are the ones we should respect.
Read the Bible and study it closely. Look on the internet for interpretations of the versus. You will learn more about people that way than ever listening to the socialist CNN or other “news” media organizations.
There is a crisis of maturity in the West today. We are raising children to remain children.
… and these snowflakes are told that real men are a threat. While the real threat is the evil in their own hearts.
Focus on some transcendent goal of the highest value. That is what we strive for.
I say focus on the day, some day in the future for yourself. While helping others is our earthly duty, you cannot help others if you are unable to because you are too fat, too stupid, or too lazy. Improve yourself first, then you can help others.
Orient yourself properly. Concentrate on what is in front of you. Then expand yourself after you have today under control. Do so by starting with the small things that you can control.
Note to folks here, have you heard about the Fat Pride movement? Yep, you missed it. “Fat Pride” by JEAN BRAITHWAITE • JULY 2007
https://thesunmagazine.org/issues/379/fat-pride
Hundreds of articles on fat pride. If you cannot do something about being fat (obese) then you have a discipline problem. If you are too scared to do anything about it, I’m sorry for you. The health and mental issues with being fat are well documented.
If you accept who you are — I’m okay, you’re okay — then you will never grow, and you cannot improve yourself. The first step is to recognize you are not and never will be what you want but at least you can start on that journey of self-improvement. And, I think most people know that intrinsically.
Excellent point and I do believe that Gen. Satterfield has made this point as well. Doug, keep your comments coming, I like the way you think. But, let’s take this a step further. What can we do, each of us to move ourselves and our families upward? Does getting a better job be the end all of that journey? No, IMHO, I think getting our own act together is what makes the world just a bit better.
Think! Being better than you are! No brainer? Not in this insane world of Democrat snowflakes and racist Joe Biden.
Only if you are a laptop liberal who orders her meals thru uber and who works at home. Never leaving her apartment, she is now the “moral leader” of her in-group. Biased or not? Well, that is obvious to everyone but her and her hyper-liberal “friends.” 👎👎
Crazy!!!!!
If you think this is crazy, just listen to Pres Joe Biden, or worse, VP K. Harris. They are over the cliff batshit crazy.
Yep! You have to be deaf and stupid not to notice. Or, a real liberal who has drank the coolaid of the neo-marxist progressive ideology that oversimplies and falsely tells us that the reason for people not succeeding is because they are “oppressed.” Never hear such nonsense in my life.
You mean the DemoRAT Party?
Yes, the DemoRAT party!!!!!