1 post tagged “purpose”

I like to collect wisdom and life lessons.  When I was in the military I heard the following story:

There was an Army infantry training exercise taking place in Fort Benning, Georgia involving US Army Rangers.  There was a visiting German NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) who was there in an exchange program who was participating in the exercise.  This NCO had seen extensive action in WWII, obviously fighting for the German side.

At the beginning of the exercise each soldier was issued a set amount of ammunition.  At the conclusion of the exercise they had to turn in any unspent ammo.  None of the American soldiers had any ammo to return, they had shot it all off during the exercise.

The German NCO however, turned in all his ammo except for three rounds.  The supply people couldn't believe it.  "Why did you only shoot three times?" they asked him.  "I only saw three targets.", he responded.  You can guess what happened to the three targets he did see.

Most people go through life shooting off what ammo they have without a clear target.  They often make a lot of noise and generate a lot of activity that has no purpose or direction.  If we  are not careful, we can shoot everything we have just to have the fun of hearing the noise and the perception that we are making a difference.

My Dad could rattle off sports statistics of players from all the major sports all the way back to the 1940's.  It gave his life purpose and he enjoyed it, but in the end he was shooting off his ammo at things he couldn't see and that were basically meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

To be effective we need to husband our ammunition so that we are ready for the opportunities of life when they appear.  I define ammo in this sense as time, energy and effort.  We each only have so much of it.  Opportunities arise like targets do.  We need to be sure we are shooting at the targets that really matter.  We need to focus on generating light, and not just creating heat.