AS IN DRILL, SO ALSO IN PRACTICE
I went to get my conceal carry certificate last week. Most of the class was about the legalities of carrying a gun, but some of it was about safe use of the weapon. The presentation told us about a policeman who died in a shoot out not long ago. When they recovered his body, the dead policeman still had his casings in his hand. The reason for that was that even though he did not have to collect his casings on the scene, he had trained that way. He had trained that way so he responded to his training during the real life situation. The presentator drew a lesson from this. He said that in order to develop good habits we should train in the use of the weapon in the way that we will use it. This made me think of another story. It reminded me of the story about a soldier who had been seen on the sidelines of the camp speaking to someone. He was reported to the General and charged with treason At his interrogation, the officer in charge asked him, “What do you have to say in your defense?” "I have the daily habit of taking time for private prayer ...” said the soldier. “... but it is difficult to do in the noisy barracks, so I went outside by the trees. If people heard me talk it was only the sound of my voice pouring my heart out to the Lord.” “You say you were praying...” said the officer, “... then get on your knees and pray right now. You never needed it more.” The soldier then got on his knees and desperately poured out his heart to God for himself and his fellow soldiers in a manner and desperation he had never done before. He was abruptly interrupted by the officer in charge with the words, “The charge is dismissed. I believe you. You could not have been so good in practice if you would not have been often at drill!” These two stories tell us that for each of us comes a day of reckoning. A day when we have to make a very important decision that will affect our whole life as well as that of those close to us. On that day, we need to be able to stay away from petty selfish motives and do what is right no matter what the cost. We may not know when that day will come, and sometime we may not even know what that decision is. The key then to do the right thing on that day, the key of being able to make the right decision when it matters so much, is to discipline ourselves to do the right thing at the everyday drills when it matters little. If we do it right at drill, we’ll do it right at practice and on the day our lives and that of others depend on it. In essence also, the key to doing the right thing and act altruistically at the time it counts much is to have the habit of living that way everyday with our kin, friends, and colleagues. The key to do the right thing in what is great is to the right thing in what is small.
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