The Navy depends on very young Sailors to do very big things, and often to make some consequential decision. So it trains them well, then trains them again, then trains them some more. Drill after drill after drill. The constant training is meant to produce a familiarity with proper procedures so intimate that when something is off, even the most junior Sailor will feel it. When he does, he needs to be able to tell even his captain that something isn’t right. That’s a tough thing to do, even when such feedback is welcome. This prayer was meant to encourage them to speak up when they have something to say. Often, the response is simply to confirm that their concern has already been addressed, but when it hasn’t—and needs to be—the courage to speak up is indispensable.
Never be afraid to do what’s right.
Sam had once said that he never wanted to get out of a place as much as he wanted to get out of his job. Had his job been racing it might have been a different story, he had a need for speed, but as it was he hated his job almost as much as he hated his actual first name. His parents had named him Hiram, but even they never called him by that name. His schoolmates had mistakenly called him “Sam,” which he preferred, and so the name stuck.
His school days not only gave him a first name, but it was there he developed his passion for speed and became quite good at racing. On any given day you might find him at a city intersection challenging an unsuspecting driver. And so it was on an Autumn afternoon that Sam ran afoul of the law by speeding.
A patrol officer on foot saw him recklessly speeding through town, and, without time to call for backup and unable to get Sam’s attention, grabbed hold of his vehicle and was dragged through the street. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Sam to hear the brave officer’s cries and pull over to stop.
When the dust had settled and the officer regained his feet, he faced the scofflaw and said to him, “I am very sorry, Mr. President, to have to do it, for you are the chief of the nation and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.” The president apologized and then insisted that the officer do his duty.
This was how William H. West, a former slave turned U.S. Army war veteran, now a policeman in the nation’s capitol became the first—and as yet only—man to ever place a sitting president under arrest. All because President Hiram Ulysses “Sam” Grant was a speed demon.
You never know when, Like William West, you might make history simply by doing your duty, and in our line of work there’s a real chance you will, so be sure of yourself, have the courage of your convictions to speak up when you know you’re right. People may not heed you, but make certain they hear you.
LET US PRAY
Lord it is sometimes difficult to speak up. Sometimes we’re unsure of ourselves and sometimes we fear the reaction that we may get. But give us, O God, a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind, so that we will have the courage and the strength to do what is right, to say what is right, and to think only about what is good and true. For You are the God of wisdom and power and to You we give glory, honor, and worship now and forever, and to the ages of ages.
AMEN
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 