This one was fun, because I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “stupid” so many times in such a short span, and never in a story meant to teach a moral. Because of that, though, this prayer caused a lot of follow on discussions. Most Sailors have heard some version of the opening warning, but I hope I was able to help them apply it more broadly than simply staying out of trouble when on liberty out in town. The reforming tendency of youth is a strong one, and being smart, well-trained professionals gives a lot of Sailors confidence, even if sometimes the confidence is a bit outsized given their lack of experience. It’s no different in wider American society that treats the “new and improved” (but mostly the same) thing as the better thing, and tends to easily cast aside traditions it finds hokey and outdated. This is why revolutionary movements tend to find their roots in university student bodies. So, Chesterton’s warning applies just as much today—when suggestions to change the U.S. Constitution are so casually tossed about—as it was when he wrote it. So I share it with you here.
Are you tough enough?
“Life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid.” These words are often credited to John Wayne’s character in The Sands of Iwo Jima, but whether or not he actually said those words—or something like them—I remember exactly the words my chief used when he expressed the same idea to me back when I served on the submarine. His version was to tell me, “Hostetler, if you’re going to be stupid, you better be tough.” And he was right. Being stupid always makes things more difficult—and sometimes painful. But how do you avoid being stupid.
For me the first step was to stop acting like I knew everything and start watching and listening to Sailors who had been around for a while. There is a certain arrogance to youth and inexperience which makes all of us think that old ways are bad just because they’re old, and thus need to be changed. Maybe they do need to change, but be careful. Sometimes the old way is the one learned by hard-earned experience—maybe by someone else being stupid.
English philosopher G.K. Chesterton described this tendency of reform and the attendant danger of shunning the wisdom and experience handed down to us by our forebears. He wrote:
“In the matter of reforming things…there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
We should never dismiss things out of hand, whether procedures, checklists, or work practices, simply because we don’t understand them, as if to say “that’s stupid. I’m not doing that.” It is far better to first assume that we are the one who is stupid, until we can understand why it is done that way. Only when we understand the why of a thing can we avoid being stupid in trying to change it.
You can try it the other way—but you better be tough.
LET US PRAY
Almighty God, our help and refuge, fountain of wisdom and tower of strength, You have given us countless guides and pathways to lead us. Give us wisdom to follow the direction You provide in our professional life, our personal life, and in our spiritual life. Help us to recognize which boundaries are for our guidance and protection and should remain as they are, and those which may have outlasted their usefulness and may be adjusted or removed. Grant us also the humility to learn the wisdom required to seek understanding before trying to teach or correct others. For You are the source of al knowledge, and are the enlightenment of our minds, souls, and bodies, and it is in Your name we pray.
AMEN
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 