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MacKenZie...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Originally posted by MacKenZie:
<STRONG>Thanatos,
This question isn't meant to be sarcastic or at all disrespectful, so please don't take it like that. How do you manage to stay 'aggressive' but not 'angry,' if that makes sense? It's a question I'm genuinely interested in the answer to, because I recognise that one's an advantage (perhaps even a prerequisite for victory) in a fight, whereas the other is a definite handicap...</STRONG>
OK, I shall endeavor to DISCIPLINE myself as to the use of smilies, so that the cyber-netherworld shall not lay claim to this post... <IMG alt="image" SRC="wink.gif" border="0"> (oops)
BECAUSE you asked the question in a serious and respectful manner, I shall give you the same respect in the answer, as best I can...
Let us attempt a corollary...
In the 1980's, the University of Tokyo did an exhaustive study on professional sports. They found that certain "freaks of nature" excel at different sports, and it goes beyond tall people playing basketball, and big people playing (American) football.
85% of the polulace has same side dominant vision, that is, right handed people see with their right eye, and the left eye is for depth perception. In baseball, a batter is at a distinct advantage if he does NOT have to look ariound his nose at a pitch coming toward him; he has a longer time to read the rotation of the ball, and know how it is going to curve, drop, or flutter. 85% of Major League baseball players are in the "freak of nature" that have cross-dominant vision. Rather the Darwin Theory of sport... <IMG alt="image" SRC="wink.gif" border="0"> (oops, again)
For racers who excel, whether cars, motorcycles, or jet fighter jocks (who are of the same general species), the freak of nature shared by those at the pinacle of their sport, is that time passes at a different rate. Your five minutes is my hour. Your day is my week. In a "tense" moment, racers who excel have ever so much more time to evaluate and find a proper solution. It is NOT a measure of intellect, but rather the manner in which the brain processes intel; some would hold that the racer simply does not have the extraneous modem called "common-sense" which the action must run through... <IMG alt="image" SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0"> All I can tell you is that the sensation of "speed" which the average person senses at, say, 60 mph, is comparable to what I sense at 180 mph.
The RESULT is that, because there is so much more time, there is less of the overwhelming sensation of FEAR which must be overcome.
Massad Ayoob, a policeman who is also a writer, speaks of the "tache-psyche" phenomenon (yes, I AM aware that my spelling is atrocious), where in combat, the event transpires in slow motion, sense of hearing is muted, one experiences tunnel vision, etc. For some of us, life in general is like that, and really "tense" moments which require focus and resolve simply accentuate the phenomenon. Having never lived as anyone else, I can only observe from recollection, and reason through divergent perspectives to speculate. I CAN tell you that I function best in chaotic moments... as other's control appears to become more tenuous, I generally make the accurate decision EXTREMELY quickly, so that it frequently appears that a well thought out action on my part is thought of as impulsive and reckless by others within the same moment.
Another issue is evaluation of "risk". People come in three basic types: a) Those who foredoom themselves to failure. They just know that they are going to lose in a 50/50 moment, even a 75/25 moment. They take NO risks. They are reluctant to commit ANYTHING to ANY moment, because they just know they are going to lose.
b) Most people are in the category where they will take the occaisional 50/50 proposition, as long as the downside isn't too steep. They will risk only what they are comfortable in losing.
c) The vast minority within the last type realize that their ability to commit EVERYTHING to a moment is worth 30% right off the top, so that a 20% chance of success becomes a 50/50 situation, and a 50% chance of success is a sure thing. These are the people who hate to lose ANYTHING, so commit EVERYTHING to a moment, rather than lose anything at all. These people will NOT cut their losses, but push on when all around believe it is hopeless. They will sprint along the ragged and crumbling edge of the ledge, and focus upon that narrow path, rather than the chasm below.
FOCUS is the key. You focus upon the job that you are called to, and simply monitor fear or pain, dis-enable those things rather than allowing them to dis-enable YOU. Most people require rage to carry them past fear... some simply refuse to submit to pain or fear.
People ARE different, and I am attempting to answer your question as clearly as I might. I have a depth of respect for those like Ranger "Tricky", but the training must be excellent to the EXTREME for someone who requires rage to function in that capacity (personal belief, NOT to be taken as fact).
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Faith plays a part. I have no fear of death, and that comes to the greatest degree from my faith. If you have stepped beyond your fear of death, what is left to fear?
I HAVE been severely injured. Pain and I are on a most intimate familiarity. For most of my life, I have been aware that I could endure most ANYTHING. I am not a masochist who enjoys pain, but like fear, it is simply an obstacle that you must step beyond to get to where you want to be.
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Discipline plays perhaps the greatest role. With discipline comes COMMITMENT. If you are at peace with what you are doing, if you truly BELIEVE in what you are doing, then (for me) anger is TOTALLY unnecessary. Anger tends to dis-enable me more than pain and fear combined. It simply makes me vulnerable. Anger is the antithesis of control, and I ADMIT to being a "control-freak"... <IMG alt="image" SRC="wink.gif" border="0">
Didn't intend for this to become a "lecture", nor a dissertation...
Of course, there IS the fact that I am just a "jarhead", and could be COMPLETELY mistaken... <IMG alt="image" SRC="rolleyes.gif" border="0">
[ 15-01-2002: Message edited by: Thanatos...AGAIN ]
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Makes for very good reading - almost a spiritual quality to it.
*learns a little more everyday* <IMG alt="image" SRC="cool.gif" border="0">
"Most people require rage to carry them past fear... some simply refuse to submit to pain or fear."
Yeah, that rings a few bells.
It's something I've learned since I took up martial arts (first Aikido, and more recently Kung Fu / Tai Ji as well) that pain is kind of like a temporary madness. To stop it grabbing control of you, you need some degree of detachment... perhaps an awareness that it will pass?
As an example, I almost always come out of training feeling a stretch somewhere. In training I'm certain to get a few shots of pain (some Aiki wristlocks are killers <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">). However, the only time I've not been fine within 24 hours at the longest was when I dislocated my toe -- and that's not the kind of thing that can go away in 24 hrs.
Hmm, reminds me of a line from GI Jane: "Are you hurt or are you injured?"
"I CAN tell you that I function best in chaotic moments... as other's control appears to become more tenuous, I generally make the accurate decision EXTREMELY quickly, so that it frequently appears that a well thought out action on my part is thought of as impulsive and reckless by others within the same moment."
I can sort of say the same about myself. If given too much time to think about things I can sometimes go off into 'What if?'s.
In fact, one of the things I've learned is that sometimes the important thing isn't necessarily to do the best thing, but just to do something. You know, it doesn't matter that much whether you dodge the car by going right or left, just so long as you get the heck out of the way! <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
Hmmm... :: thinks over several lessons from his Aikido sensei ::
I think I'll come back to this when I have a bit of spare time.
In the life after service, I raced motorcycles, professionally and internationally, for fifteen years. At one time or another, I beat six world champions, although I was DEFINITELY not their equal: I DID, however, approach racing with the perspective of a Marine...
A season's championship was won on the last weekend of that season when my crew lifted me up bodily and set me onto the motorcycle after sustaining fourteen fractures in a 100 mph highside crash. They had to lift my left arm and right leg because I could NOT move them. I could not tuck in on the straights, nor lean off in the corners. I was vomiting in my helmet at over 160 mph, such was the level of the pain.
After getting a second place in the first heat race, my crew packed me in ice for three hours, and then lifted me back onto the motorcycle... we got another second place in the second heat, and won the season's championship by a single point.
Some have called that act "heroic"; it was NOT... but it is precisely what is expected of ALL Marines, both of himself, and his Brothers. If you are conversant with history in such places as Khe Sanh, then you will understand.
It is a personal commitment to honor, to discipline, and a focus upon the task at hand. It is the basis of ALL Marine's pride (as opposed to arrogance): doing the hard thing BECAUSE it is the right thing, regardless of the cost to self... There are NO heroes - just them who fulfill their duty when and where called.
{...and NO, you will NEVER hear a "war-story" from me. REAL veterans seldom talk about THAT stuff, except on a one-on-one basis...}