A second offering from Trent at the Simple Dollar… The Bell A friend of mine sent me a wonderful article recently. Entitled “A Veteran of SEAL Team Six Describes His Training,” it’s an excerpt from SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper by Howard Wasdin and Stephen Templin, and the article appeared in the May 2011 issue of Vanity Fair. Why am I mentioning this here? One short passage from the article really stood out at me. “On the first morning of indoctrination into BUD/S, we had to do the physical screening test again. After a cold shower and some push-ups, we began the test. Afraid of failing the swim, I kicked and stroked for all I was worth. Somehow, I completed it in time. Then we did the push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, and run. One guy failed; he hung his head as the instructors sent him packing. That evening, the SEAL instructors stood before us and introduced themselves. At the end, Lieutenant Moore told us we could quit if we wanted to by walking outside and ringing the bell three times. “I’ll wait,” Lieutenant Moore said. I thought the lieutenant was bluffing, but some of my classmates began ringing the bell.“ SEAL training is incredibly hard. I’m not ashamed to admit that at no point in my life could I have made it through such an experience – nor could the vast majority of us – and I have tremendous respect for those who can. Still, the idea of a bell hanging there made me think. It’s such a simple “out” – ring a bell three times and the suffering ends. No more facing the pain. No more facing the challenges. You just ring that bell and walk away. All of us face incredible challenges in life. Few of us face anything like SEAL training, but we face challenges in different ways. For example, we often face challenges alone, without drill instructors shouting at us. We often face challenges where the path to success isn’t very clear cut at all. Within those challenges, though, almost all of us have a figurative bell hanging over our heads that we can ring. Financial discipline is hard. Pulling out the credit cards is easy – it’s like ringing the bell. Walking away from a temptation is hard. Buying it without thought? That’s easy. Yes, these struggles aren’t nearly as hard as SEAL training, but they are still struggles and, like SEAL training, they have a very easy escape that’s right there waiting. Just like those trainees, if you keep up with the struggle and you keep making the challenging choice, you eventually achieve something impressive. You bring about real changes in your life, something that no one can take away from you. When you ring that bell, things get easier for the moment, but then you’re left with regret. You’re left with a sense of not breaking through and not achieving your goals. Your credit cards are your bell. That temptation over there, it’s your bell. Are you strong enough not to ring it? The post The Bell appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 10:14:40 +0000
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