Leadership Lessons From The Great Books – All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

1
00:00:00,480 –> 00:00:04,240
Hello. My name is Jesan Sorrells, and this is the Leadership

2
00:00:04,240 –> 00:00:07,700
Lessons from the Great Books podcast, episode number

3
00:00:08,080 –> 00:00:11,840
127. And I

4
00:00:11,840 –> 00:00:15,075
quote, the First World War was a tragic

5
00:00:15,295 –> 00:00:18,675
and unnecessary conflict.

6
00:00:19,134 –> 00:00:22,895
This is how the author and historian John Keegan opens his book

7
00:00:22,895 –> 00:00:26,699
focusing on the history of the First World War, and it is the

8
00:00:26,699 –> 00:00:30,000
conclusion we will begin with today on our podcast.

9
00:00:31,020 –> 00:00:34,480
Because the First World War fought between 1914 and 1918,

10
00:00:35,020 –> 00:00:38,379
1918, and involving the loss of the lives of over

11
00:00:38,379 –> 00:00:41,964
10,000,000 people and the destruction of the colonial and

12
00:00:41,964 –> 00:00:45,324
aristocratic European nation-state was so

13
00:00:45,324 –> 00:00:49,085
influential, it makes sense to cover it almost

14
00:00:49,085 –> 00:00:51,664
a 110 years later.

15
00:00:53,520 –> 00:00:57,360
On this podcast, we have covered books written by American veterans of World War

16
00:00:57,360 –> 00:01:00,980
1, including Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.

17
00:01:01,120 –> 00:01:03,780
I would encourage you to go back and listen to those episodes.

18
00:01:05,094 –> 00:01:08,695
We have also covered the writing of authors who were deeply impacted by the Spanish

19
00:01:08,695 –> 00:01:12,134
influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed more people

20
00:01:12,134 –> 00:01:15,274
globally, 21,000,000, than the World War itself.

21
00:01:16,134 –> 00:01:19,835
But its impact was dwarfed by the apocalyptic collapse of European

22
00:01:20,350 –> 00:01:23,090
civilizational assumptions about morality,

23
00:01:23,870 –> 00:01:27,630
mortality, and welfare in the trenches of

24
00:01:27,630 –> 00:01:31,470
the Western front. There are few

25
00:01:31,470 –> 00:01:35,230
good books, however, written about the direct soldiers’ experience in

26
00:01:35,230 –> 00:01:39,045
World War 1. A Farewell to Arms assumes that the reader

27
00:01:39,045 –> 00:01:42,725
understands and can empathize with the horrors of

28
00:01:42,725 –> 00:01:46,565
war. Pale Horse, Pale Rider, the short story by

29
00:01:46,565 –> 00:01:50,245
Catherine Porter, assumes that the reader understands the gap in the home

30
00:01:50,245 –> 00:01:53,960
front from a soldier leaving to go off and die in the trenches of

31
00:01:53,960 –> 00:01:57,720
Verdun and the Psalm. However,

32
00:01:57,720 –> 00:02:01,420
all those books stand in the shadows or live in the shadows

33
00:02:01,560 –> 00:02:05,215
of the book we are covering today. Addressing the

34
00:02:05,215 –> 00:02:08,975
1st World War from a cultural, social, and military level, this book

35
00:02:08,975 –> 00:02:12,495
was dismissed by John Keegan as well as the

36
00:02:12,495 –> 00:02:16,255
entire National Socialist regime that replaced the corrupt and

37
00:02:16,255 –> 00:02:19,370
feckless Weimar Republic that came after

38
00:02:19,829 –> 00:02:21,930
World War 1 in Germany.

39
00:02:23,909 –> 00:02:27,670
It is a novel that addresses honestly and fort rightfully the tensions between

40
00:02:27,670 –> 00:02:31,209
the old European aristocratic assumptions of how warfare should be conducted

41
00:02:31,625 –> 00:02:35,305
and the reality of the horrors of warfare at the front

42
00:02:35,305 –> 00:02:38,745
itself. This novel takes the measure of those

43
00:02:38,745 –> 00:02:42,364
leaders, generals, politicians, and others who

44
00:02:42,905 –> 00:02:46,620
led from the rear and finds them to be criminally

45
00:02:47,319 –> 00:02:51,160
wanting. Or as the band Pink

46
00:02:51,160 –> 00:02:54,860
Floyd would put it many years later in their seminal

47
00:02:54,920 –> 00:02:58,655
song us and them from their seminal album, The Dark

48
00:02:58,655 –> 00:03:02,495
Side of the Moon and a quote forward

49
00:03:02,495 –> 00:03:05,875
he cried from the rear and the front

50
00:03:06,095 –> 00:03:09,795
rank died. The general sat

51
00:03:10,015 –> 00:03:13,860
and the lines on the map moved from side

52
00:03:14,000 –> 00:03:17,440
to side. Today on the

53
00:03:17,440 –> 00:03:20,740
podcast, we will be reading and pulling

54
00:03:21,440 –> 00:03:24,820
from Leadership Lessons for Leaders

55
00:03:25,120 –> 00:03:28,835
from All Quiet on the Western Front

56
00:03:29,375 –> 00:03:32,595
by Eric Marie Remark.

57
00:03:35,055 –> 00:03:38,575
Leaders, you cannot lead from the rear if all your

58
00:03:38,575 –> 00:03:42,280
decision making data comes from on the ground up at

59
00:03:42,280 –> 00:03:45,800
the front. And we pick up

60
00:03:45,800 –> 00:03:49,640
from All Quiet on the Western Front by

61
00:03:49,640 –> 00:03:53,175
Eric Maria Remark. We’re gonna open

62
00:03:53,175 –> 00:03:56,235
up, with my version of this book,

63
00:03:56,775 –> 00:04:00,475
translated from the German by A. W. Ween.

64
00:04:01,095 –> 00:04:03,675
By the way, the original German,

65
00:04:04,615 –> 00:04:08,450
title for all quiet on the western front is.

66
00:04:12,670 –> 00:04:15,650
I think I’m pronouncing that correctly, although

67
00:04:16,269 –> 00:04:20,045
maybe not. And I

68
00:04:20,045 –> 00:04:23,485
quote, we are at rest 5 miles behind the

69
00:04:23,485 –> 00:04:27,245
front. Yesterday, we were relieved and now our bellies are

70
00:04:27,245 –> 00:04:31,030
full of beef and haricot beans. We are satisfied and

71
00:04:31,030 –> 00:04:34,390
at peace. Each man has another mess tin full for the

72
00:04:34,390 –> 00:04:38,230
evening. And what is more, there is double there’s a double ration

73
00:04:38,230 –> 00:04:39,850
of sausage and bread.

74
00:04:42,470 –> 00:04:46,145
That puts a man in fine trim. We have

75
00:04:46,145 –> 00:04:49,905
not had such luck as this for a long time. The cook with his caroty

76
00:04:49,905 –> 00:04:53,505
head is begging us to eat. He beckons with his ladle to everyone that

77
00:04:53,505 –> 00:04:57,264
passes and spoons him out a great dollop. He does not see how he

78
00:04:57,264 –> 00:05:00,800
can empty his stew pot in time for coffee. Jaden and

79
00:05:00,800 –> 00:05:04,480
Mueller have produced 2 wash basins and have had them filled up to the

80
00:05:04,480 –> 00:05:08,320
brim as a reserve. In Jaden, this is a veracity, and Mueller,

81
00:05:08,320 –> 00:05:11,680
it is foresight, where Jaden puts it all as a mystery for he is and

82
00:05:11,680 –> 00:05:14,500
always will be as thin as a rake.

83
00:05:15,595 –> 00:05:19,115
What’s more important still is the issue of a double ration of smokes. Ten cigars,

84
00:05:19,115 –> 00:05:22,955
20 cigarettes, and 2 quids of chew per man. Now that is decent. I

85
00:05:22,955 –> 00:05:26,635
have exchanged my chewing tobacco with Kaczynski for his cigarettes, which means I have

86
00:05:26,635 –> 00:05:29,615
40 altogether. That’s enough for a day.

87
00:05:31,020 –> 00:05:33,980
It is true we have no rights to this windfall. The Prussian is not so

88
00:05:33,980 –> 00:05:36,960
generous. We have only a miscalculation to thank for it.

89
00:05:37,740 –> 00:05:40,380
14 days ago, we had to go up and relieve the front line. It was

90
00:05:40,380 –> 00:05:44,092
fairly quiet in our sector, so the quartermaster remained in the rear head requisitioned

91
00:05:44,092 –> 00:05:47,823
to the usual quality quantity of rations and provided for the full

92
00:05:47,823 –> 00:05:51,553
company of 150 men. But on the last day, an astonishing number of

93
00:05:51,553 –> 00:05:55,283
English heavies opened up on us with high explosive drumming ceaselessly in our

94
00:05:55,283 –> 00:05:58,440
position so that we suffered severely and came back only 80

95
00:05:58,840 –> 00:06:02,680
strong. Last night, we moved back and settled down to get

96
00:06:02,680 –> 00:06:05,880
a good night’s sleep for once. Kosinski is right when he says it would not

97
00:06:05,880 –> 00:06:09,320
be such a bad war if only going to get a little more sleep. In

98
00:06:09,320 –> 00:06:12,600
the line, we have next to none, and 14 days is a long time at

99
00:06:12,600 –> 00:06:16,134
one stretch. It was noon before the first of us

100
00:06:16,134 –> 00:06:19,495
crawled out of our quarters. Half an hour later, every man had his mess tin,

101
00:06:19,495 –> 00:06:22,634
and we gathered at the cookhouse, which smelled greasy and nourishing.

102
00:06:23,495 –> 00:06:26,695
And the head of the queue, of course, were the hungriest little Albert Cropp, the

103
00:06:26,695 –> 00:06:30,500
clearest thinking among us, and therefore only a Lance Corporal Mueller, who

104
00:06:30,500 –> 00:06:34,020
still carries his school textbooks with him, dreams of examinations, and during a

105
00:06:34,020 –> 00:06:37,860
bombardment, mutters propositions in physics. Lear, who wears a full beard

106
00:06:37,860 –> 00:06:41,000
and has a preference for the girls from the officers’ brothels.

107
00:06:41,700 –> 00:06:45,320
He swears that they are obliged by an army order to wear silk chemises

108
00:06:45,645 –> 00:06:49,104
and to bathe before entertaining guests of the rank of captain and upwards.

109
00:06:49,805 –> 00:06:53,645
And as the 4th, myself, Paul Baumer, and 4 are 19

110
00:06:53,645 –> 00:06:57,324
years of age, and all 4 joined up from the same class as volunteers for

111
00:06:57,324 –> 00:07:01,080
the war. Close behind us were our friends,

112
00:07:01,139 –> 00:07:04,500
Jaden, a skinny locksmith of our own age, the biggest eater of the company. He

113
00:07:04,500 –> 00:07:06,979
sits down to eat as thin as a grasshopper and gets up as big as

114
00:07:06,979 –> 00:07:10,740
a bug of the family way. High Westus of the same age, a peat digger

115
00:07:10,740 –> 00:07:14,415
who can easily hold a ration loaf in his hand and say, guess what I’ve

116
00:07:14,415 –> 00:07:18,255
got in my fist. Then Dieterring, a peasant who thinks nothing of

117
00:07:18,335 –> 00:07:21,854
thinks of nothing but his farmyard and his wife. And finally,

118
00:07:21,854 –> 00:07:25,615
Stanislaus Kaczynski, the leader of our group, shrewd, cunning,

119
00:07:25,615 –> 00:07:29,380
and hard bitten. 40 years of age with the face of the soil, blue eyes,

120
00:07:29,600 –> 00:07:33,060
bent shoulders, and a remarkable nose for dirty weather, good food,

121
00:07:33,520 –> 00:07:37,360
and soft jobs. Our gang formed the

122
00:07:37,360 –> 00:07:40,720
head of the queue before the cookhouse. We’re growing impatient for the cook paid no

123
00:07:40,720 –> 00:07:44,495
attention to us. Finally, Kaczynski called to him, say, Heinrich, open up the soup

124
00:07:44,495 –> 00:07:48,335
kitchen. Anyone can see the beans are done. He shook his head, sleep really.

125
00:07:48,335 –> 00:07:51,875
You must all be there first. Jaden grinned. We are all here.

126
00:07:52,414 –> 00:07:55,375
The sergeant Cook still took no notice. Then let me do for you, he said,

127
00:07:55,375 –> 00:07:58,960
but where are the others? They won’t be fed by you today. They’re

128
00:07:58,960 –> 00:08:02,020
either in the dressing station or pushing up daisies.

129
00:08:02,800 –> 00:08:06,479
The cook was quite disconcerted as the facts dawned on him. He was staggered, and

130
00:08:06,479 –> 00:08:10,225
I have cooked for 150 men. Cropp poked him in the

131
00:08:10,225 –> 00:08:13,365
ribs. Then for once, we’ll have enough. Come on. Begin.

132
00:08:14,465 –> 00:08:18,305
Suddenly, a vision came over Jaden. His sharp, mousy features began to shine. His eyes

133
00:08:18,305 –> 00:08:21,525
grew small with cunning. His jaws twitched, and he whispered hoarsely,

134
00:08:21,905 –> 00:08:24,740
man, then you’ve got bread for 150 men too,

135
00:08:26,160 –> 00:08:30,000
Sergeant Cook nodded, absent minded and bewildered. Jaden seized him by the tunic and

136
00:08:30,000 –> 00:08:33,600
sausage. Ginger nodded again. Jaden’s chaps

137
00:08:33,600 –> 00:08:37,424
quivered, tobacco too? Yeah. It’s everything. Jaden beamed,

138
00:08:37,424 –> 00:08:41,105
what a bean feast. That’s all for us. Each man gets wait a minute.

139
00:08:41,105 –> 00:08:44,785
Yes. Practically, 2 issues. Then Ginger stirred himself and

140
00:08:44,785 –> 00:08:48,625
said, that won’t do. We got excited and began to crowd around. Why won’t that

141
00:08:48,625 –> 00:08:52,459
do you, old carrot? Demanded Kosinski. Any man can’t have what is

142
00:08:52,459 –> 00:08:56,060
meant for a 150? We’ll soon show you, growled Mueller. I don’t care about the

143
00:08:56,060 –> 00:08:59,279
stew, but I can only issue rations for 80 men, persisted Ginger.

144
00:08:59,420 –> 00:09:02,940
Kaczynski got angry. You might be generous for once. You haven’t drawn food for 80

145
00:09:02,940 –> 00:09:06,765
men. You’ve drawn it for the second company. Good. Let’s have it then. We

146
00:09:06,765 –> 00:09:10,605
are the second company. We began to jostle the fellow.

147
00:09:10,605 –> 00:09:13,565
No one felt kindly toward him for it was his fault that the food came

148
00:09:13,565 –> 00:09:17,405
to us in the line too late and cold. Under shellfire, he

149
00:09:17,405 –> 00:09:20,010
wouldn’t bring his kitchen up near enough so that our soup carriers had to go

150
00:09:20,010 –> 00:09:23,770
much farther than those of the other companies. Now Buke of the first company

151
00:09:23,770 –> 00:09:27,050
is a much better fellow. He is as fat as a hamster in winter, but

152
00:09:27,050 –> 00:09:30,670
he trundles his pots when it comes to that right up to the front line.

153
00:09:31,625 –> 00:09:34,105
We were in just the right mood, and there would certainly have been a dust

154
00:09:34,105 –> 00:09:37,865
up if our company commander had not appeared. He informed himself

155
00:09:37,865 –> 00:09:41,404
of the dispute and only remarked, yes. We did have heavy losses yesterday.

156
00:09:42,425 –> 00:09:45,590
He glanced into the Dixie. The beans look good.

157
00:09:46,130 –> 00:09:49,890
Ginger nodded cooked with meat and fat. The lieutenant looked at

158
00:09:49,890 –> 00:09:53,650
us. He knew what we were thinking, and he knew many

159
00:09:53,650 –> 00:09:57,490
other things too because he came to the company as a noncom and was promoted

160
00:09:57,490 –> 00:10:01,155
from the ranks. He lifted the lid from the Dixie again and sniffed.

161
00:10:01,375 –> 00:10:05,215
Then passing on, he said, bring me a plateful. Serve out all the rations. We

162
00:10:05,215 –> 00:10:08,735
can do with them. Ginger looked sheepish as

163
00:10:08,735 –> 00:10:12,575
Jaden danced around him. It doesn’t cost you anything. Anyone would think the Quartermaster store

164
00:10:12,575 –> 00:10:15,829
belonged to him. And now get on with it, you old blubber sticker, and don’t

165
00:10:15,829 –> 00:10:19,610
you miscount either. You’d be hanged, spat out Ginger.

166
00:10:19,990 –> 00:10:23,670
When things got beyond him, he throws up the sponge altogether. He

167
00:10:23,670 –> 00:10:27,095
just goes to pieces. And as if to show

168
00:10:27,095 –> 00:10:30,715
that all things were equal to him of his own free will,

169
00:10:31,095 –> 00:10:34,635
he issued an addition half pound of synthetic honey

170
00:10:35,655 –> 00:10:37,435
to each man.

171
00:10:40,150 –> 00:10:43,770
Eric Maria Remarque born June 22,

172
00:10:44,150 –> 00:10:47,370
1998, died September 25, 1970,

173
00:10:48,390 –> 00:10:52,150
was born in Olsna Bruch to Peter Franz Remarque and

174
00:10:52,150 –> 00:10:55,795
Anna Marie in a working class Roman Catholic

175
00:10:56,334 –> 00:11:00,014
family. During World War 1,

176
00:11:00,014 –> 00:11:03,774
Remark was conscripted into the imperial German army at the age

177
00:11:03,774 –> 00:11:07,569
of 18. On 12th June 1917, he was

178
00:11:07,569 –> 00:11:11,009
transferred to Western Front Second Company Reserves field depot of the 2nd

179
00:11:11,009 –> 00:11:14,389
Guard Reserve Division at Hem Lenglet.

180
00:11:15,970 –> 00:11:19,730
After the war, he continued his teacher training and worked from August 1,

181
00:11:19,730 –> 00:11:23,555
1919 as a primary school teacher in Lone at that

182
00:11:23,555 –> 00:11:26,915
time in the county of Lingen, now in the county of

183
00:11:26,915 –> 00:11:30,675
Bethheim. He worked at a number of different jobs in this

184
00:11:30,675 –> 00:11:34,375
phase of his life, including working as a librarian, businessman, journalist,

185
00:11:34,435 –> 00:11:38,110
and editor. His first paid writing job was as a technical

186
00:11:38,170 –> 00:11:41,610
writer for the Continental Rubber Company, a German tire

187
00:11:41,610 –> 00:11:45,370
manufacturer. Remark had made his first

188
00:11:45,370 –> 00:11:49,150
attempts at writing at the age of 16. Among them were essays,

189
00:11:49,210 –> 00:11:52,855
poems, and the beginnings of a novel he that was finished later

190
00:11:53,475 –> 00:11:56,935
and, published in 1920 as The Dream Room.

191
00:11:58,035 –> 00:12:01,735
All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 1929,

192
00:12:03,315 –> 00:12:05,575
although he started writing it in 1927,

193
00:12:07,100 –> 00:12:10,780
almost a full 10 years after he had signed

194
00:12:10,780 –> 00:12:14,140
up for the Imperial German

195
00:12:14,140 –> 00:12:17,500
Army or was conscripted into

196
00:12:17,500 –> 00:12:20,954
it. Remark was at first unable to find a

197
00:12:20,954 –> 00:12:24,654
publisher for All Quiet on the Western Front, and

198
00:12:24,714 –> 00:12:26,815
primarily this was because in the 1920s,

199
00:12:28,235 –> 00:12:31,055
Germany was ruled by the Weimar Republic,

200
00:12:31,949 –> 00:12:35,550
and its texts describe the experiences of German soldiers during World War

201
00:12:35,550 –> 00:12:39,009
1. And it was considered to be, well,

202
00:12:39,629 –> 00:12:43,410
not great, and that’s being moderate

203
00:12:43,629 –> 00:12:47,334
in my assessment. One of

204
00:12:47,334 –> 00:12:51,095
the challenges with All Quiet on the Western Front is the challenge

205
00:12:51,095 –> 00:12:54,795
of Eric Maria Remarque who by the way, the reason

206
00:12:54,855 –> 00:12:58,214
Maria is there is because he had a problem with his

207
00:12:58,214 –> 00:13:01,420
father and he really wanted to honor his mother.

208
00:13:03,720 –> 00:13:07,320
Eric was also a ladies’ man. And when All Quiet on the Western Front was

209
00:13:07,320 –> 00:13:11,160
eventually turned into a movie in the 19 thirties, Eric Marck

210
00:13:11,320 –> 00:13:14,805
Maria Remark, wound up having access to

211
00:13:14,865 –> 00:13:18,645
and becoming the paramour of actresses.

212
00:13:19,185 –> 00:13:22,625
And he wound up at the middle of his life and at the end of

213
00:13:22,625 –> 00:13:25,925
his life, being married to Paulette

214
00:13:26,225 –> 00:13:29,530
Goddard, famous actress

215
00:13:29,990 –> 00:13:31,210
of the era.

216
00:13:34,550 –> 00:13:38,150
Eric Remark was never embraced by

217
00:13:38,150 –> 00:13:41,910
Germany. He was never embraced by the very people that he wrote

218
00:13:41,910 –> 00:13:45,525
about. The National Socialist regime didn’t

219
00:13:45,525 –> 00:13:48,745
like him. They didn’t like the book. Matter of fact, Goebbels

220
00:13:49,045 –> 00:13:52,805
directly had his books burned. And when the movie premiered in the

221
00:13:52,805 –> 00:13:56,405
1930s in Germany, the the

222
00:13:56,405 –> 00:14:00,140
Nazis did everything they possibly could, to get

223
00:14:00,140 –> 00:14:03,440
people to not go and see the film up to and including

224
00:14:03,980 –> 00:14:07,820
sabotaging the film houses and movie houses where the

225
00:14:07,820 –> 00:14:11,665
movie was showing. All Quiet on the

226
00:14:11,665 –> 00:14:15,265
Western Front is known as and is is

227
00:14:15,265 –> 00:14:19,025
placed in the pantheon of being one of the greatest war novels of

228
00:14:19,025 –> 00:14:22,785
all time. But in reality, All Quiet on the Western Front

229
00:14:22,785 –> 00:14:26,480
is an anti war novel. And that’s

230
00:14:26,480 –> 00:14:30,320
the thing. See, Eric wasn’t

231
00:14:30,320 –> 00:14:33,920
writing about things that were happening to him that he thought

232
00:14:33,920 –> 00:14:37,600
were great. He was writing about things happening to him that

233
00:14:37,600 –> 00:14:41,055
he thought were not great. And the fact of the matter

234
00:14:41,055 –> 00:14:44,655
is he was writing them from a soldier’s direct

235
00:14:44,655 –> 00:14:47,955
experience, and this direct

236
00:14:48,015 –> 00:14:51,635
experience ran counter to the ideas

237
00:14:51,935 –> 00:14:55,339
that were being characterized and

238
00:14:55,339 –> 00:14:59,019
were eventually turned into legend on the home

239
00:14:59,019 –> 00:15:02,860
front after the war, after the

240
00:15:02,860 –> 00:15:05,680
death had long since stopped.

241
00:15:07,764 –> 00:15:11,144
Back to the book, back to All Quiet on the Western

242
00:15:11,204 –> 00:15:14,024
Front. We’re going to pick up

243
00:15:15,204 –> 00:15:18,584
in All Quiet on the Western Front in chapter 5.

244
00:15:20,339 –> 00:15:23,860
And I quote, Mueller hasn’t finished yet. He

245
00:15:23,860 –> 00:15:27,540
tackles crop again. Albert, if you were really at home now, what would you

246
00:15:27,540 –> 00:15:30,980
do? Crop is contented now and more

247
00:15:30,980 –> 00:15:34,760
accommodating. How many of us were there in the class exactly?

248
00:15:35,765 –> 00:15:39,365
We count out. Out of 20, 7 are dead, 4

249
00:15:39,365 –> 00:15:42,905
wounded, 1 in a madhouse. That makes 12.

250
00:15:43,605 –> 00:15:47,065
3 of them were lieutenants in Mueller. Do you think they would still let Kantor

251
00:15:47,125 –> 00:15:50,850
exit on them? We guess not. We wouldn’t let ourselves be sat

252
00:15:50,850 –> 00:15:54,370
on for that matter. What do you mean by the 3 fold theme when

253
00:15:54,370 –> 00:15:57,750
William tells his crop reminiscently and roars with laughter?

254
00:15:58,770 –> 00:16:02,130
What was the purpose of the Poetic League of Guttningen? Asked Mueller

255
00:16:02,130 –> 00:16:05,774
suddenly and earnestly. How many children has Charles the Bald?

256
00:16:05,774 –> 00:16:09,375
I interrupted gently. You can never make anything of your life,

257
00:16:09,375 –> 00:16:12,975
Balmer, coax Mueller. When was the Battle of

258
00:16:12,975 –> 00:16:16,574
Zanna? Coke wants to know. You lack the studio’s mind,

259
00:16:16,574 –> 00:16:20,329
Cropp. Sit down. 3 minus, I say. What offices

260
00:16:20,389 –> 00:16:24,149
did Lycurgus consider the most important for the state? Asks Mueller, pretending

261
00:16:24,149 –> 00:16:27,829
to take off his Pinznaes. Does it go, we

262
00:16:27,829 –> 00:16:31,670
Germans fear God and none else in the whole world, or we the Germans

263
00:16:31,670 –> 00:16:35,074
fear God and I submit. How many

264
00:16:35,074 –> 00:16:38,915
inhabitants has Melbourne? Asks Mueller. How do you expect

265
00:16:38,915 –> 00:16:41,894
to succeed in life if you don’t know that? I asked Albert Hartley.

266
00:16:42,915 –> 00:16:46,214
When do you hear what you calves with? What is meant by cohesion?

267
00:16:48,270 –> 00:16:52,110
We remember mighty little of all that rubbish. Anyway, it has never been the

268
00:16:52,110 –> 00:16:55,870
slightest use to us. At school, nobody ever taught us

269
00:16:55,870 –> 00:16:59,710
how to light a cigarette in a storm of rain, nor how a fire could

270
00:16:59,710 –> 00:17:03,485
be made with wet wood, nor that it is best to stick a bayonet

271
00:17:03,485 –> 00:17:07,165
in the belly because there it doesn’t get jammed as it does in the

272
00:17:07,165 –> 00:17:11,005
ribs. Mueller says thoughtfully, what’s the

273
00:17:11,005 –> 00:17:13,744
use? We’ll have to go back and sit on the forms again.

274
00:17:14,790 –> 00:17:17,850
I consider that out of the question. We might take a special exam.

275
00:17:18,630 –> 00:17:22,230
That needs preparation. And if you do get through, what then? A

276
00:17:22,230 –> 00:17:25,750
student’s life isn’t any better. If you have no money, you have to work like

277
00:17:25,750 –> 00:17:29,590
the devil. It’s a bit better. But is Rod all the same? Everything they teach

278
00:17:29,590 –> 00:17:33,184
you. Crop supports me. How can a man take all that stuff

279
00:17:33,184 –> 00:17:36,245
seriously when he’s once been out here?

280
00:17:37,345 –> 00:17:41,025
Still, he must have an occupation of some sort, is this Mueller, as though he

281
00:17:41,025 –> 00:17:44,810
were a hand to work himself. Albert cleans his nails

282
00:17:44,810 –> 00:17:48,650
with a knife. We are surprised at his delicacy, but it

283
00:17:48,650 –> 00:17:52,270
is merely pensiveness. He puts the knife away and continues.

284
00:17:52,490 –> 00:17:56,250
That’s just it. Cat and Dieterring and Hyde will go back to their how

285
00:17:56,330 –> 00:17:59,945
their jobs because they had them already. Him will toss too,

286
00:18:00,325 –> 00:18:03,865
but we never had any. How will we ever get used to one after this

287
00:18:04,804 –> 00:18:08,025
here? He makes a gesture toward the front.

288
00:18:09,125 –> 00:18:12,005
Well, one is a private income, and then we’ll be able to live by ourselves

289
00:18:12,005 –> 00:18:15,399
in a wood, I say. But at once, I feel ashamed of this absurd

290
00:18:15,399 –> 00:18:19,000
idea. But what will really happen when we go back? Wonders

291
00:18:19,000 –> 00:18:22,840
Mueller, and even he is troubled. Croc gives a

292
00:18:22,840 –> 00:18:26,460
shrug. I don’t know. Let’s get back first, then we’ll find out.

293
00:18:27,434 –> 00:18:30,895
We are all utterly at a loss. What could we do? I ask.

294
00:18:31,195 –> 00:18:35,034
I don’t wanna do anything, replies Cropp wearily. You’ll be dead one day,

295
00:18:35,034 –> 00:18:38,850
so what does it matter? I don’t think we’ll ever go back. When

296
00:18:38,850 –> 00:18:42,270
I think about Albert, I say after a while rolling over on my back.

297
00:18:43,450 –> 00:18:46,570
When I hear the word peace time, it goes to my head. And if I

298
00:18:46,570 –> 00:18:49,929
really came and if it really came, I think I would do

299
00:18:49,929 –> 00:18:53,605
some unimaginable thing, something, you know, that’s worth having laying

300
00:18:53,605 –> 00:18:56,985
here in the muck for. But I can’t even imagine anything.

301
00:18:57,365 –> 00:19:00,885
All I know is that this business about professions and studies and salaries and so

302
00:19:00,885 –> 00:19:04,645
on, it makes me sick. It is and always was disgusting. I

303
00:19:04,645 –> 00:19:06,345
don’t see anything at all, Albert.

304
00:19:08,470 –> 00:19:11,690
All at once, everything to me seems confused and helpless.

305
00:19:13,030 –> 00:19:16,070
Cropp feels it too. It will go pretty hard with us all, but nobody at

306
00:19:16,070 –> 00:19:19,850
home seems to worry much about it. 2 years of shells and bombs.

307
00:19:20,070 –> 00:19:23,295
A man won’t peel off that easy as a sock.

308
00:19:24,955 –> 00:19:28,715
We agree that it’s the same for everyone, not only for us here,

309
00:19:28,715 –> 00:19:32,555
but everywhere, for everyone who is of our age, to some more and

310
00:19:32,555 –> 00:19:36,315
to others less, is the common fate of our

311
00:19:36,315 –> 00:19:40,050
generation. Albert expresses it. The war has

312
00:19:40,050 –> 00:19:43,430
ruined us for everything. He is right.

313
00:19:43,810 –> 00:19:47,650
We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by

314
00:19:47,650 –> 00:19:51,410
storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves, from

315
00:19:51,410 –> 00:19:55,174
our life. We were 18 and had begun to love

316
00:19:55,174 –> 00:19:58,635
life and the world, and we had to shoot it to pieces.

317
00:19:59,335 –> 00:20:03,015
The first bomb, the first explosion burst in

318
00:20:03,015 –> 00:20:06,615
our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from

319
00:20:06,615 –> 00:20:09,990
striving, from progress. We believe in such

320
00:20:09,990 –> 00:20:13,130
things no longer. We believe

321
00:20:14,390 –> 00:20:15,370
in the war.

322
00:20:18,630 –> 00:20:22,235
According to John Keegan, the author

323
00:20:22,295 –> 00:20:24,235
of the First World War,

324
00:20:28,295 –> 00:20:31,975
the cultural, moral, and social environment of

325
00:20:31,975 –> 00:20:35,655
Europe leading into the First World War, which is

326
00:20:35,655 –> 00:20:39,050
exemplified in that little piece that I just

327
00:20:39,050 –> 00:20:42,730
read from all quiet on the western front where

328
00:20:42,730 –> 00:20:46,270
Paul Balmer and his fellow soldiers

329
00:20:46,490 –> 00:20:50,330
are sitting in a trench talking about and reminiscing about

330
00:20:50,330 –> 00:20:53,745
their school lives and the culture they left behind in

331
00:20:53,745 –> 00:20:57,585
Germany. This reminiscence these

332
00:20:57,585 –> 00:21:00,885
reminiscence are reflective of general

333
00:21:01,024 –> 00:21:04,385
German intellectual and cultural thought and, of course, European intellectual and cultural thought overall. At

334
00:21:04,385 –> 00:21:07,580
the beginning, and cultural thought overall

335
00:21:08,520 –> 00:21:11,180
at the beginning of World War 1.

336
00:21:13,400 –> 00:21:17,000
European statesmen, cultural gatekeepers, public intellectuals, and

337
00:21:17,000 –> 00:21:20,440
others had a generally favorable view of war in

338
00:21:20,440 –> 00:21:23,585
general, stemming from notions of honor,

339
00:21:23,965 –> 00:21:27,805
expectations of a swift victory, particularly on the part of both the Germans

340
00:21:27,805 –> 00:21:31,645
and the French, and the burgeoning impact of the concept

341
00:21:31,645 –> 00:21:35,450
of social Darwinism as a robust replacement

342
00:21:35,510 –> 00:21:39,350
for Christianity, particularly an idea

343
00:21:39,350 –> 00:21:43,050
that had particularly grabbed the attention of the intellectual

344
00:21:43,670 –> 00:21:47,155
class in Europe. Such

345
00:21:47,155 –> 00:21:50,755
beliefs led to the creation of an environment in Germany, France, and

346
00:21:50,755 –> 00:21:54,515
Britain where the overall cultural zeitgeist held up fighting and

347
00:21:54,515 –> 00:21:58,195
warfare as quote unquote glorious, but,

348
00:21:58,195 –> 00:22:01,520
of course, with all this glory, failed to adequately

349
00:22:01,660 –> 00:22:05,360
prepare the actual soldier, like Paul Baumer

350
00:22:05,660 –> 00:22:09,120
and all of his compatriots, both in

351
00:22:09,180 –> 00:22:12,400
the French trenches and the British trenches,

352
00:22:13,475 –> 00:22:16,855
failed to adequately prepare the actual soldier for the harsh realities

353
00:22:17,235 –> 00:22:20,295
of warfare, particularly warfare

354
00:22:20,835 –> 00:22:24,455
conducted with the new technologies of

355
00:22:25,155 –> 00:22:28,720
the 20th century. In addition

356
00:22:28,720 –> 00:22:32,559
to all of the old devils that bedevil warfare and

357
00:22:32,559 –> 00:22:35,059
come along with them, including pestilence,

358
00:22:35,920 –> 00:22:39,520
death, and

359
00:22:39,520 –> 00:22:42,660
moral and psychological breakage.

360
00:22:45,174 –> 00:22:48,615
War was seen particularly by folks in

361
00:22:48,615 –> 00:22:52,075
Baumer’s age, where the vast majority of them

362
00:22:52,375 –> 00:22:55,975
between 1834, war was seen

363
00:22:55,975 –> 00:22:59,800
as an escapism from daily life. And

364
00:22:59,800 –> 00:23:03,320
particularly in Germany, sacrifice in the name of the state was

365
00:23:03,320 –> 00:23:07,020
considered a patriotic duty. Bismarck

366
00:23:07,080 –> 00:23:10,860
had done a really good job of establishing that and really

367
00:23:11,400 –> 00:23:14,380
pounding that into the German psyche.

368
00:23:16,775 –> 00:23:20,395
Now during this time in Europe, the industrial

369
00:23:20,455 –> 00:23:24,155
revolution, was really moving forward,

370
00:23:24,295 –> 00:23:27,195
and the industrial revolution would, of course,

371
00:23:28,010 –> 00:23:31,529
allow industrial scale killing in places like

372
00:23:31,529 –> 00:23:33,549
Verdun and the Somme.

373
00:23:35,289 –> 00:23:39,049
But along with that industrialized revolution came critiques of the

374
00:23:39,049 –> 00:23:42,525
industrial revolution, most notably in Britain from Charles Dickens

375
00:23:42,825 –> 00:23:46,284
earlier in 19th century. But

376
00:23:46,585 –> 00:23:50,125
as time had gone on, there was growing lifestyle decadence,

377
00:23:50,904 –> 00:23:54,445
that was perceived by the cultural elite in Europe.

378
00:23:55,140 –> 00:23:58,500
And this growing lifestyle, decadence, and unmanliness in

379
00:23:58,500 –> 00:24:02,180
European society, it was believed

380
00:24:02,180 –> 00:24:05,780
could only be cleansed with steel. And it’s

381
00:24:05,780 –> 00:24:09,555
amazing when you read the history of World War 1 as reflected

382
00:24:09,555 –> 00:24:13,172
not only in All Quiet on the Western Front, but in the 1st World War

383
00:24:13,172 –> 00:24:13,955
by John Keegan and in other books. It is amazing how the, European intellectual class,

384
00:24:13,955 –> 00:24:15,575
the artists, the writers,

385
00:24:23,780 –> 00:24:27,620
the burgeoning filmmakers, but mostly the artists and the writers, in

386
00:24:27,620 –> 00:24:31,240
particular, the poets, they believed that

387
00:24:31,860 –> 00:24:35,640
the only way you could change Europe,

388
00:24:35,995 –> 00:24:39,455
the only way that you could increase the manliness of the European

389
00:24:39,515 –> 00:24:43,274
man was through doing the hard thing of going to

390
00:24:43,274 –> 00:24:46,735
war and shooting the other European man.

391
00:24:49,340 –> 00:24:53,020
In Germany and in other countries in Europe, officers were selected from the

392
00:24:53,020 –> 00:24:56,700
country’s elite classes. And for the

393
00:24:56,700 –> 00:25:00,400
vast majority of them, particularly at the general the major level and above,

394
00:25:01,115 –> 00:25:04,795
the elite classes expected warfare to be conducted under the rules of the

395
00:25:04,795 –> 00:25:08,555
17th 18th century. Although, I already mentioned

396
00:25:08,555 –> 00:25:12,155
technology, the technology employed to fight war allowed for

397
00:25:12,155 –> 00:25:15,809
mass indiscriminate and, quite frankly, anti elite slaughter

398
00:25:16,110 –> 00:25:19,789
of human beings. And the best generals, the

399
00:25:19,789 –> 00:25:23,230
ones who actually rose to the forefront, although there were

400
00:25:23,230 –> 00:25:26,684
no good generals in the First World War, But the

401
00:25:26,684 –> 00:25:30,044
best out of the bad bunch that rose to the

402
00:25:30,044 –> 00:25:32,465
front, names we know,

403
00:25:33,644 –> 00:25:37,325
those individuals were able to understand and figure

404
00:25:37,325 –> 00:25:40,845
out how to best use these new technologies in order to

405
00:25:40,845 –> 00:25:43,880
gauge and in order to temper

406
00:25:44,980 –> 00:25:48,820
the indiscriminate slaughter in an attempt to try to break the

407
00:25:48,820 –> 00:25:52,440
German lines, move on to Berlin,

408
00:25:53,059 –> 00:25:55,159
and force a German surrender.

409
00:25:57,225 –> 00:26:00,825
But the folks on the ground, the folks at the lieutenant level and at the

410
00:26:00,825 –> 00:26:04,505
sergeant level, the folks are going to make sure you get a pot of

411
00:26:04,505 –> 00:26:08,265
haircut beans. It’s double your regular portion, tobacco and a

412
00:26:08,265 –> 00:26:11,770
little bit of honey and are gonna threaten the cook. Those

413
00:26:11,770 –> 00:26:14,510
folks, the NCOs, were,

414
00:26:16,010 –> 00:26:19,530
the ones that understood the brutal reality of trench

415
00:26:19,530 –> 00:26:22,750
warfare and were able to stare it in the face.

416
00:26:25,424 –> 00:26:29,105
The elite officers were unprepared, unable, and in many cases,

417
00:26:29,105 –> 00:26:32,945
unwilling to lead the troops assigned to them. And this was

418
00:26:32,945 –> 00:26:36,750
one of the critical factors. Keegan kind of brushes over it, but

419
00:26:36,990 –> 00:26:40,750
Aquana on the western front stares at it directly. This is one of the key

420
00:26:40,750 –> 00:26:43,570
factors that led to the static nature of trench warfare

421
00:26:44,750 –> 00:26:48,190
conducted and led by NCOs with little

422
00:26:48,190 –> 00:26:51,985
information about what was happening in the rear. A lot of information

423
00:26:51,985 –> 00:26:55,425
about what was happening at the front, but the inability to make

424
00:26:55,425 –> 00:26:59,184
decisions, particularly command decisions, that

425
00:26:59,184 –> 00:27:02,325
would change and shift with the times.

426
00:27:03,580 –> 00:27:07,120
By the way, if you’re wondering, the new technology

427
00:27:07,420 –> 00:27:11,020
of radio communication was just in its

428
00:27:11,020 –> 00:27:14,480
infancy. And many generals and European

429
00:27:14,620 –> 00:27:18,315
powers and even the diplomats in the run up to

430
00:27:18,315 –> 00:27:21,675
the First World War in that horrible summer of

431
00:27:21,675 –> 00:27:25,435
1914 couldn’t see the use in the

432
00:27:25,435 –> 00:27:29,130
new technology. It wouldn’t be

433
00:27:29,130 –> 00:27:32,190
the last time in the 20th century

434
00:27:33,049 –> 00:27:36,889
that a bureaucrat didn’t understand a

435
00:27:36,889 –> 00:27:38,990
technical innovation.

436
00:27:42,975 –> 00:27:46,735
Back to the book, back to All Quiet on the

437
00:27:46,735 –> 00:27:49,475
Western Front. We’re going to pick up in chapter 6,

438
00:27:50,735 –> 00:27:53,635
knee deep in the middle of a

439
00:27:55,055 –> 00:27:58,580
shelling that these

440
00:27:58,580 –> 00:28:02,280
soldiers are experiencing in the trenches.

441
00:28:04,260 –> 00:28:08,100
I pick up from the book. Suddenly, the shelling begins to pound again. Soon,

442
00:28:08,100 –> 00:28:11,745
we were sitting up once more with the rigid tenseness of

443
00:28:11,745 –> 00:28:12,965
blank anticipation.

444
00:28:15,105 –> 00:28:18,785
Attack, counterattack, charge, repulse, these are words,

445
00:28:18,785 –> 00:28:22,305
but what things they signify. We have lost a good many men,

446
00:28:22,305 –> 00:28:26,150
mostly recruits. Reinforcements have begun

447
00:28:26,210 –> 00:28:29,890
again to be sent up to our sector. They

448
00:28:29,890 –> 00:28:33,490
are one of the new regiments composed almost entirely of young

449
00:28:33,490 –> 00:28:37,005
fellows just called up. They have hard

450
00:28:37,085 –> 00:28:40,385
hardly any training and are sent into the field with only a theoretical

451
00:28:40,445 –> 00:28:43,965
knowledge. They do know what a hand grenade is. It is true, but they have

452
00:28:43,965 –> 00:28:47,805
very little idea of cover and what is most important of all, have

453
00:28:47,805 –> 00:28:51,399
no eye for it. A fold in the ground has to be quite

454
00:28:51,399 –> 00:28:54,940
18 inches high before one can see it.

455
00:28:56,360 –> 00:28:59,980
Although we need reinforcements, the recruits give us almost

456
00:29:00,039 –> 00:29:03,765
more trouble than they are worth. They are helpless

457
00:29:03,765 –> 00:29:06,825
in this grim fighting area. They fall like flies.

458
00:29:07,605 –> 00:29:11,205
Modern trench warfare demands knowledge and experience. A man must

459
00:29:11,205 –> 00:29:14,645
have a feeling for the contours of the ground and an ear for the sound

460
00:29:14,645 –> 00:29:18,240
and character of the shells, must be able to decide beforehand where they will

461
00:29:18,240 –> 00:29:22,080
drop, how they will burst, and how to shelter from them. The

462
00:29:22,080 –> 00:29:25,920
young recruits, of course, know none of these things. They get killed simply because they

463
00:29:25,920 –> 00:29:29,565
hardly can tell shrapnel from high explosive. They are mown

464
00:29:29,565 –> 00:29:33,085
down because they are listening anxiously to the roar of the big whole boxes falling

465
00:29:33,085 –> 00:29:36,605
in the rear and miss the light piping whistle of the low

466
00:29:36,605 –> 00:29:40,285
spreading daisy cutters. They flock together like sheep instead of

467
00:29:40,285 –> 00:29:44,090
scattering, and even the wounded are shot down like hairs by the airmen.

468
00:29:45,350 –> 00:29:49,190
Their pale turnip faces, their pitiful clenched hands, the fine courage of these poor

469
00:29:49,190 –> 00:29:52,950
devils, the desperate charges and attacks made by the poor brave wretches who

470
00:29:52,950 –> 00:29:56,595
are so terrified that they dare not cry out loudly, but

471
00:29:56,595 –> 00:30:00,355
with battered chests, with torn bellies, arms and legs only whimper softly

472
00:30:00,355 –> 00:30:03,095
for their mothers and cease as soon as one looks at them.

473
00:30:04,675 –> 00:30:08,355
Their sharp, downy dead faces have the awful expressionlessness of dead

474
00:30:08,355 –> 00:30:12,120
children. It brings a lump into the throat to see

475
00:30:12,120 –> 00:30:15,639
how they go over and run and fall. A man would like to spank them.

476
00:30:15,639 –> 00:30:18,600
They are so stupid and to take them by the arm and lead them away

477
00:30:18,600 –> 00:30:22,245
from here where they have no business to be. They wear gray coats

478
00:30:22,325 –> 00:30:25,925
and trousers and boots, but for most of them, the uniform is far too big.

479
00:30:25,925 –> 00:30:29,545
It hangs on their limbs. Their shoulders are too narrow. Their body’s too slight.

480
00:30:29,605 –> 00:30:33,385
No uniform was ever made to these childish measurements.

481
00:30:35,429 –> 00:30:38,250
Between 510 recruits fall to every old hand.

482
00:30:39,429 –> 00:30:43,190
A surprise gas attack carries off a lot of them. They have not yet learned

483
00:30:43,190 –> 00:30:46,950
what to do. We found 1 dugout full of them with blue heads and black

484
00:30:46,950 –> 00:30:50,570
lips. Some of them in a shell hole took off their masks too soon.

485
00:30:50,705 –> 00:30:54,465
They did not know that the gas lies longest in the hollows. When

486
00:30:54,465 –> 00:30:58,225
they saw others on top without masks, they pulled theirs off too and swallowed enough

487
00:30:58,225 –> 00:31:01,905
to scorch their lungs. Their condition is hopeless. They

488
00:31:01,905 –> 00:31:05,125
choke to death with hemorrhages and suffocation.

489
00:31:07,769 –> 00:31:11,610
In one part of the trench, I suddenly run into Himmelstas. We dive into

490
00:31:11,610 –> 00:31:15,450
the same dugout. Breathless, we are lying one beside the other waiting

491
00:31:15,450 –> 00:31:19,049
for the charge. When we run out again, although I am very

492
00:31:19,049 –> 00:31:22,805
excited, I suddenly think, where’s Himmelstas? Quickly, I jump back in the dugout

493
00:31:22,805 –> 00:31:26,245
and find him a small scratch lying in a corner pretending to be wounded. His

494
00:31:26,245 –> 00:31:29,785
face looks sullen. He is in a panic. He is new at it too,

495
00:31:29,925 –> 00:31:33,205
but it makes me mad that the young recruit should be out there and he

496
00:31:33,205 –> 00:31:36,760
here. Get out, I spit. He does not

497
00:31:36,760 –> 00:31:40,120
stir. His lips quiver. His mustache twitches. Out, I

498
00:31:40,120 –> 00:31:43,880
repeat. He draws up his legs, crouches back against the wall, and

499
00:31:43,880 –> 00:31:47,605
shows his teeth like a cur. I seize him by the arm and

500
00:31:47,605 –> 00:31:50,405
try to pull him up. He barks. This is too much for me. I grab

501
00:31:50,405 –> 00:31:53,365
him by the neck and shake him like a sack. His head jerks from side

502
00:31:53,365 –> 00:31:57,125
to side. You lump. You will get out. You hound. You skunk. Sneak out of

503
00:31:57,125 –> 00:32:00,820
it, would you? His eyes become glassy. I knock his

504
00:32:00,820 –> 00:32:04,179
head against the wall. You cow. I kick him in the ribs. You swine. I

505
00:32:04,179 –> 00:32:06,840
push him toward the door and shove him out head first.

506
00:32:07,940 –> 00:32:11,059
Another wave of our attack has just come up. A lieutenant is with them. He

507
00:32:11,059 –> 00:32:14,625
sees us and yells, forward, forward, join in, follow. And the word of

508
00:32:14,625 –> 00:32:18,325
command does what all my banging could not. Himmelstoss

509
00:32:18,465 –> 00:32:22,065
hears the order, looks round him as if awakened, and follows

510
00:32:22,065 –> 00:32:25,765
on. I come after him and watch him go over.

511
00:32:26,065 –> 00:32:29,425
What’s more, he is the smart Himmelstoss of the parade ground. He’s even

512
00:32:29,425 –> 00:32:31,980
outstripped lieutenant and is far ahead.

513
00:32:33,080 –> 00:32:36,840
Bombardment, barrage, curtain fire, mines, gas tanks, machine guns, hand

514
00:32:36,840 –> 00:32:40,380
grenades, words, words, words where they hold the horror of the world.

515
00:32:41,240 –> 00:32:44,760
Our faces are encrusted. Our thoughts are devastated. We are weary to

516
00:32:44,760 –> 00:32:48,445
death. When the attack comes, we shall have to strike many of the men with

517
00:32:48,445 –> 00:32:51,965
our fists to waken them and make them come with us. Our eyes are

518
00:32:51,965 –> 00:32:55,805
burnt. Our arms are torn. Our knees bleed. Our elbows

519
00:32:55,805 –> 00:32:59,325
are raw. How long has it been? Weeks, months, years, only

520
00:32:59,325 –> 00:33:03,080
days? We see time pass in the colorless faces of the dying. We cram

521
00:33:03,080 –> 00:33:06,440
food into us. We run. We throw. We shoot. We kill. We lie about. We

522
00:33:06,440 –> 00:33:10,280
are feeble and spent, and nothing supports us with the knowledge that there are still

523
00:33:10,280 –> 00:33:13,720
feebler, still more spent, still more helpless ones there who with staring

524
00:33:13,720 –> 00:33:17,105
eyes look upon us as gods that escaped death many times.

525
00:33:18,524 –> 00:33:22,044
In the few hours of rest, we teach them, there, see that waggle top? That’s

526
00:33:22,044 –> 00:33:25,644
a mortar coming. Keep down. It’ll go clean over. But if it comes this way,

527
00:33:25,644 –> 00:33:28,304
then run for it. You could run from a mortar.

528
00:33:29,600 –> 00:33:33,440
We sharpen our ears to the malicious, hardly audible buzz of the smaller shells

529
00:33:33,440 –> 00:33:37,120
that are not easily distinguishable. They must pick them out from the general den by

530
00:33:37,120 –> 00:33:40,960
their insect like We explain to them that these are far

531
00:33:40,960 –> 00:33:43,780
more dangerous than the big ones that can be heard long beforehand.

532
00:33:44,945 –> 00:33:47,745
We show them how to take cover from aircraft, how to simulate a dead man

533
00:33:47,745 –> 00:33:51,505
when one is overrun in an attack, how to time hand grenades so that

534
00:33:51,505 –> 00:33:55,025
they explode half a second before hitting the ground. We teach them to fling themselves

535
00:33:55,025 –> 00:33:58,870
into holes as quick as lightning before the shells with instantaneous fuses. We show

536
00:33:58,870 –> 00:34:02,710
them how to clean up a trench with a handful of bombs. We

537
00:34:02,710 –> 00:34:05,990
explain the difference between the fuze length of the enemy bombs and our own. We

538
00:34:05,990 –> 00:34:09,109
put them wise to the sound of gas shells. Show them all the tricks that

539
00:34:09,109 –> 00:34:12,514
can save them from death. They listen.

540
00:34:13,135 –> 00:34:16,514
They are docile. What it begins again in their excitement,

541
00:34:16,974 –> 00:34:20,815
they do everything wrong. High Westus drags

542
00:34:20,815 –> 00:34:24,275
us drags off with a great wound in his back through which the lung pulses

543
00:34:24,840 –> 00:34:28,360
at every breath. I can only press his hand. It’s all up, Paul. He

544
00:34:28,360 –> 00:34:31,260
groans, and he bites his arm because of the pain.

545
00:34:33,080 –> 00:34:36,920
We see men living with their skulls blown open. We see soldiers run with their

546
00:34:36,920 –> 00:34:40,755
2 feet cut off. They stagger on their splintered stumps into the next shell hole.

547
00:34:40,755 –> 00:34:44,355
A lance corporal crawls a mile and a half on his hands, dragging his

548
00:34:44,355 –> 00:34:48,195
smashed knee after him. Another goes to the dressing station, and over his clasped

549
00:34:48,195 –> 00:34:51,770
hands bulge his intestines. We see men without mouths,

550
00:34:51,770 –> 00:34:55,530
without jaws, without faces. We find 1 man who has held the artery of his

551
00:34:55,530 –> 00:34:59,210
arm in his teeth for 2 hours in order not to bleed to

552
00:34:59,210 –> 00:35:02,810
death. The sun goes down. Night

553
00:35:02,810 –> 00:35:06,455
comes. The shells whine. Life is at an

554
00:35:06,455 –> 00:35:10,215
end. Still, the little piece of

555
00:35:10,215 –> 00:35:14,055
convulsed earth in which we lie is held. We have

556
00:35:14,055 –> 00:35:17,575
yielded no more than a few 100 yards of it as a

557
00:35:17,575 –> 00:35:20,980
prize to the enemy. But on every

558
00:35:20,980 –> 00:35:24,579
yard there lies a

559
00:35:24,579 –> 00:35:25,400
dead man.

560
00:35:29,140 –> 00:35:31,880
1 of the pieces of wisdom that

561
00:35:33,355 –> 00:35:36,955
we fail to understand as leaders, whether we are

562
00:35:36,955 –> 00:35:38,895
leaders in warfare,

563
00:35:40,395 –> 00:35:43,915
leaders at work, leaders in our

564
00:35:43,915 –> 00:35:47,350
homes, or even leaders in our communities, one of the

565
00:35:47,350 –> 00:35:51,190
fundamental things we fail to understand is

566
00:35:51,190 –> 00:35:54,810
that there are, when a conflict begins or a disagreement,

567
00:35:55,750 –> 00:35:57,850
people on the other side.

568
00:36:00,035 –> 00:36:02,615
And in recording this,

569
00:36:03,954 –> 00:36:07,654
a couple of days after the most recent

570
00:36:08,115 –> 00:36:11,795
election general election in the United States for

571
00:36:11,795 –> 00:36:15,460
president, it’s healthy to remind folks

572
00:36:16,079 –> 00:36:18,900
that the enemy gets a vote.

573
00:36:20,480 –> 00:36:24,020
We don’t like that. Right? We want to impose

574
00:36:24,320 –> 00:36:28,085
our will on others. We want to make them change. We want

575
00:36:28,085 –> 00:36:31,845
to make them submit to us. We want to make

576
00:36:31,845 –> 00:36:35,465
them do what we want them to do. And yet.

577
00:36:37,285 –> 00:36:40,025
And yet they want to do the same thing to us.

578
00:36:41,410 –> 00:36:43,110
This is what a fight is.

579
00:36:46,050 –> 00:36:49,650
When a fight, a conflict, a disagreement, or even just an

580
00:36:49,650 –> 00:36:53,030
argument starts, the outcome is not assured,

581
00:36:53,570 –> 00:36:56,984
no matter how prepared, confident, or even

582
00:36:56,984 –> 00:36:59,484
prideful each party may be.

583
00:37:01,625 –> 00:37:04,984
The party that wins the fight or wins the war, quite

584
00:37:04,984 –> 00:37:08,744
frankly, if we’re going to be honest and rational about what

585
00:37:08,744 –> 00:37:12,299
happens in a fight, The party that wins the fight or the war is the

586
00:37:12,299 –> 00:37:15,660
party which adapts better to the conditions of the fight

587
00:37:15,660 –> 00:37:19,420
itself and the condition of the other

588
00:37:19,420 –> 00:37:23,180
fights to be fought after the first battle is

589
00:37:23,180 –> 00:37:26,905
concluded. If you are

590
00:37:26,905 –> 00:37:30,045
incapable of adjusting or adapting to the conditions,

591
00:37:30,585 –> 00:37:34,424
if you keep seeing the ground as being the same as the one you fought

592
00:37:34,424 –> 00:37:37,944
on before, if you are unwilling to shift

593
00:37:37,944 –> 00:37:41,460
your strategy, shift your thoughts, or shift your approach

594
00:37:41,760 –> 00:37:45,600
in a fight of any kind on any ground with any

595
00:37:45,600 –> 00:37:47,780
enemy, you will lose.

596
00:37:49,760 –> 00:37:51,140
You don’t like to hear that.

597
00:37:54,435 –> 00:37:57,015
One of the massive lessons of World War 1

598
00:37:58,515 –> 00:38:02,035
and the reason why it dragged on for 4 years when it probably could have

599
00:38:02,035 –> 00:38:05,335
been wrapped up in 2 was that

600
00:38:06,835 –> 00:38:10,390
neither party could break the other one

601
00:38:11,010 –> 00:38:14,710
using the same old techniques they had always

602
00:38:14,770 –> 00:38:18,610
used. And so Paul

603
00:38:18,610 –> 00:38:22,230
Baumer and Himmelstoss and Haidt

604
00:38:22,895 –> 00:38:25,555
and all of the others who are mentioned in the book

605
00:38:27,135 –> 00:38:30,895
wound up bleeding out their life force in

606
00:38:30,895 –> 00:38:34,255
the mud and the muck of

607
00:38:34,255 –> 00:38:36,595
trenches in Europe

608
00:38:38,410 –> 00:38:42,250
to move mere yards or

609
00:38:42,250 –> 00:38:45,630
even in some cases, suspended their lifeblood

610
00:38:46,330 –> 00:38:50,025
over mere inches. And the reason they

611
00:38:50,025 –> 00:38:53,625
did this is because their leaders could see no other way

612
00:38:53,625 –> 00:38:57,385
forward than through doing the same things they

613
00:38:57,385 –> 00:39:00,984
had always done in the same way they had

614
00:39:00,984 –> 00:39:03,885
always done them. And

615
00:39:05,799 –> 00:39:09,319
interestingly enough, expecting a

616
00:39:09,319 –> 00:39:10,859
different outcome.

617
00:39:15,480 –> 00:39:19,160
Believing in the superiority of your own weapons, your own

618
00:39:19,160 –> 00:39:22,954
strategy, your own tactics, your own mindset, or your own

619
00:39:22,954 –> 00:39:26,394
philosophies before you strike iron with another

620
00:39:26,394 –> 00:39:30,234
person is prideful driven hubris. But this

621
00:39:30,234 –> 00:39:33,770
is what we do. Right? We believe we are right. We believe that we

622
00:39:33,770 –> 00:39:37,550
own the high ground and that no one else can join us. And so

623
00:39:38,250 –> 00:39:41,690
we are shocked and amazed that the

624
00:39:41,690 –> 00:39:45,370
enemy might believe that they have the high ground. And by the

625
00:39:45,370 –> 00:39:49,184
way, they might have an opinion and their opinion might not match ours, and

626
00:39:49,184 –> 00:39:52,885
they might be willing to go all the way to the wall on it.

627
00:39:54,944 –> 00:39:58,785
If you’re a leader, the thing

628
00:39:58,785 –> 00:40:02,250
to remember is if you’re going to set out on a

629
00:40:02,250 –> 00:40:05,850
conflict, if you’re going to set out on a fight, remember that the

630
00:40:05,850 –> 00:40:08,030
enemy gets a vote

631
00:40:10,490 –> 00:40:14,225
and they’re not gonna stop voting. They’re not

632
00:40:14,225 –> 00:40:18,065
going to stop casting their ballots. They’re not going to stop

633
00:40:18,065 –> 00:40:21,685
having an opinion. They’re not going to stop with their strategies,

634
00:40:21,985 –> 00:40:25,605
their tactics, their techniques, their weapons, their mindsets,

635
00:40:25,665 –> 00:40:29,470
their philosophies. They are going to keep going, and

636
00:40:29,470 –> 00:40:33,309
they are going to adapt to a new environment if

637
00:40:33,309 –> 00:40:36,750
you don’t. If you fail to

638
00:40:36,750 –> 00:40:39,905
adapt, if you are blinkered, if you are prideful,

639
00:40:40,525 –> 00:40:43,965
if your ego is so big you

640
00:40:43,965 –> 00:40:47,185
can’t make a change, you

641
00:40:47,965 –> 00:40:50,145
will lose.

642
00:40:53,480 –> 00:40:56,540
The Germans lost World War 1.

643
00:40:57,000 –> 00:41:00,760
Whether they believed that in the run up to World War 2 or not

644
00:41:00,760 –> 00:41:03,820
is irrelevant. The Germans lost.

645
00:41:05,935 –> 00:41:09,615
And, of course, as John Keegan points out in his great book, the

646
00:41:09,615 –> 00:41:13,295
First World War, which we’ve already referenced a couple of times here, the

647
00:41:13,295 –> 00:41:16,895
seeds of the Second World War were planted in the

648
00:41:16,895 –> 00:41:20,275
ground, in the trenches of the First World War.

649
00:41:21,350 –> 00:41:24,310
There were many people who fought in the First World War who wound up being

650
00:41:24,310 –> 00:41:27,450
players in the Second World War. John Pershing,

651
00:41:28,310 –> 00:41:32,070
Harry Truman fought in the First World War and led men

652
00:41:32,070 –> 00:41:34,250
when the Americans finally showed up.

653
00:41:40,745 –> 00:41:44,425
Hitler, the much talked

654
00:41:44,425 –> 00:41:47,865
about boogeyman, secular boogeyman of the

655
00:41:47,865 –> 00:41:50,365
20th and now 21st century,

656
00:41:51,579 –> 00:41:55,180
was a runner in the 1st World War. He

657
00:41:55,180 –> 00:41:58,540
survived gas attacks. He survived getting shot

658
00:41:58,540 –> 00:42:01,440
at. He earned an iron cross.

659
00:42:02,780 –> 00:42:06,255
And after World War 1, he became

660
00:42:07,115 –> 00:42:10,875
something else. He, in the most

661
00:42:10,875 –> 00:42:13,375
horrible way possible, adapted

662
00:42:14,395 –> 00:42:17,455
to the new ground of the Weimar Republic

663
00:42:18,320 –> 00:42:20,420
and shaped what would come afterward.

664
00:42:22,240 –> 00:42:26,000
Churchill, by the way, also served in the First World

665
00:42:26,000 –> 00:42:27,940
War with the British.

666
00:42:32,244 –> 00:42:35,945
Those men learned lessons they would apply

667
00:42:36,085 –> 00:42:38,825
later. Think about the names I just said.

668
00:42:39,605 –> 00:42:43,445
Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Adolf

669
00:42:43,445 –> 00:42:46,280
Hitler. These

670
00:42:46,900 –> 00:42:50,420
men fought in a war where

671
00:42:50,420 –> 00:42:53,880
they understood at a principled level

672
00:42:54,180 –> 00:42:57,080
and at a gut level that the enemy

673
00:42:57,780 –> 00:43:01,615
gets a vote. But how they applied

674
00:43:01,755 –> 00:43:05,515
that understanding to their future leadership practices was

675
00:43:05,515 –> 00:43:09,295
as varied as their personalities, their approaches,

676
00:43:09,994 –> 00:43:11,855
and their goals in leadership.

677
00:43:14,760 –> 00:43:18,520
Pay attention here closely, leaders. Don’t

678
00:43:18,520 –> 00:43:22,040
ignore the 1st World War. By the way, in

679
00:43:22,040 –> 00:43:25,720
America, because we piled into that war all the

680
00:43:25,720 –> 00:43:29,565
way at the end there and against our will, being poked and

681
00:43:29,565 –> 00:43:32,305
prodded into it by a gentleman named Woodrow Wilson,

682
00:43:33,484 –> 00:43:36,865
who, of course, promised us that he wouldn’t put us in the war.

683
00:43:37,645 –> 00:43:41,165
We don’t study World War 1 and nearly as

684
00:43:41,165 –> 00:43:44,530
closely as we should. As a matter of fact, it’s considered to be a European

685
00:43:44,590 –> 00:43:48,350
war. It is considered to be the collapse of European civilization, but

686
00:43:48,350 –> 00:43:51,810
we’re Americans. That don’t have nothing to do with us.

687
00:43:53,390 –> 00:43:57,205
But just like the Europeans failed to study the

688
00:43:57,205 –> 00:44:00,885
conflict of the civil war in the United States, a

689
00:44:00,885 –> 00:44:04,565
war almost a generation and a half earlier than

690
00:44:04,565 –> 00:44:08,005
World War 1 that was a pre

691
00:44:08,005 –> 00:44:11,400
modern equivalent of what happened in the

692
00:44:11,400 –> 00:44:14,840
trenches and in the fields of

693
00:44:14,840 –> 00:44:18,680
Europe and in the Western front. Just as the

694
00:44:18,680 –> 00:44:22,280
Europeans failed to study the American Civil War with

695
00:44:22,280 –> 00:44:25,964
any interest at all whatsoever, We, in the first

696
00:44:25,964 –> 00:44:29,645
part of the 21st century, should not make the same

697
00:44:29,645 –> 00:44:33,325
mistake. We should study the first

698
00:44:33,325 –> 00:44:36,944
world war that occurred in the first part of the 20th

699
00:44:37,085 –> 00:44:40,570
century so that as a multipolar world

700
00:44:41,750 –> 00:44:45,510
descends upon us in the next 10 to

701
00:44:45,510 –> 00:44:48,730
15 years, we will not be surprised

702
00:44:49,990 –> 00:44:53,265
by the things that may occur.

703
00:44:55,965 –> 00:44:59,565
As usual this year on the podcast, as

704
00:44:59,565 –> 00:45:03,325
we get to the close of 2024 and, well, I

705
00:45:03,325 –> 00:45:06,920
think we’ll continue this into 2025, We are

706
00:45:07,460 –> 00:45:10,820
focusing on what are some solutions to

707
00:45:10,820 –> 00:45:14,420
problems that we that currently bedevil us in the

708
00:45:14,420 –> 00:45:18,195
West in general and in America in particular. What are

709
00:45:18,195 –> 00:45:21,655
the solutions? What are some solutions to problems that we can find

710
00:45:22,035 –> 00:45:25,475
by reading books like All Quiet on the Western

711
00:45:25,475 –> 00:45:28,455
Front or About Face or

712
00:45:29,315 –> 00:45:32,849
Von Klaus, which is On War? What are

713
00:45:32,849 –> 00:45:36,210
lessons we can apply from the great books from

714
00:45:36,210 –> 00:45:39,589
Shakespeare, from Moliere, from Solzhenitsyn

715
00:45:40,369 –> 00:45:44,130
and from Hannah Arendt? What are the

716
00:45:44,130 –> 00:45:47,835
lessons we can apply from fiction that

717
00:45:47,835 –> 00:45:50,255
seems innocuous and built for entertainment,

718
00:45:51,515 –> 00:45:54,975
but really is deep and can help us understand

719
00:45:55,915 –> 00:45:59,675
morality, humanity, help us prepare

720
00:45:59,675 –> 00:46:03,110
emotionally for the future, and of course as I said

721
00:46:03,110 –> 00:46:06,650
before provide solutions to our most bedeviling

722
00:46:07,110 –> 00:46:10,790
problems. What is the

723
00:46:10,790 –> 00:46:14,550
problem the main problem that All Quiet on the Western Front presents to

724
00:46:14,550 –> 00:46:18,255
us? Well, I would assert that the

725
00:46:18,255 –> 00:46:21,795
main problem that the that is proposed

726
00:46:22,255 –> 00:46:25,715
by Eric Maria Remarque in his

727
00:46:26,494 –> 00:46:29,810
dramatization of his experiences in the trenches

728
00:46:30,270 –> 00:46:33,790
of World War 1 fighting for Germany, a country

729
00:46:33,790 –> 00:46:37,550
that because it started World

730
00:46:37,550 –> 00:46:40,785
War 1 has not ever fully been allowed to

731
00:46:40,944 –> 00:46:44,704
explore the impacts of World War 1, except

732
00:46:44,704 –> 00:46:46,964
as an antecedent to World War 2.

733
00:46:48,145 –> 00:46:51,905
Marie Remark was seeking, I think, to solve the

734
00:46:51,905 –> 00:46:55,490
problem of how leaders lead

735
00:46:55,870 –> 00:46:59,470
without the respect of the people that they are tasked with

736
00:46:59,470 –> 00:47:03,250
leading. This is indeed a massive

737
00:47:03,310 –> 00:47:06,945
problem, and it is one

738
00:47:06,945 –> 00:47:09,925
that still bedevils us in the west today,

739
00:47:11,425 –> 00:47:14,725
particularly as we are seeking

740
00:47:14,785 –> 00:47:18,625
to get to the other side of

741
00:47:18,625 –> 00:47:22,220
the current crisis of competency that we are

742
00:47:22,220 –> 00:47:25,819
in in the West in general among our leaders and in

743
00:47:25,819 –> 00:47:28,799
America in particular among our

744
00:47:29,180 –> 00:47:32,880
political, cultural, and moral class.

745
00:47:35,335 –> 00:47:38,775
How do you lead those who don’t

746
00:47:38,775 –> 00:47:42,315
respect you? How do you lead people

747
00:47:43,015 –> 00:47:46,475
who don’t give a damn? To be quite blunt

748
00:47:46,855 –> 00:47:50,690
about your status, your title, your money,

749
00:47:51,390 –> 00:47:55,230
your salary, your benefits, your hair, your

750
00:47:55,230 –> 00:47:58,990
race, your gender. They only give a damn about

751
00:47:58,990 –> 00:48:02,450
what you do or what you do not do.

752
00:48:02,855 –> 00:48:05,275
And when you fail to act.

753
00:48:07,335 –> 00:48:10,934
They fall away from you. And they go find another

754
00:48:10,934 –> 00:48:13,835
leader who will do for them. You

755
00:48:14,454 –> 00:48:18,039
cannot. If you’re

756
00:48:18,039 –> 00:48:21,880
incompetent, you probably don’t know you’re incompetent, which means you’re probably not

757
00:48:21,880 –> 00:48:25,559
listening to this podcast. So that’s fine. If you are listening to

758
00:48:25,559 –> 00:48:29,160
this podcast, you probably are competent, and yet you probably

759
00:48:29,160 –> 00:48:32,815
struggle with feelings of being incompetent or thoughts of being

760
00:48:32,815 –> 00:48:36,414
incompetent. You’re probably looking to level up. You’re probably looking to

761
00:48:36,414 –> 00:48:39,775
change. You’re probably looking always to get better, to

762
00:48:39,775 –> 00:48:43,154
improve, to move the needle,

763
00:48:43,720 –> 00:48:45,980
and to become more of the thing

764
00:48:47,640 –> 00:48:51,240
that will allow you to

765
00:48:51,240 –> 00:48:54,920
lead other people. You’ve probably

766
00:48:54,920 –> 00:48:58,595
pushed past the current shibboleths around

767
00:48:58,595 –> 00:49:02,295
race or gender or class or economic distinction

768
00:49:02,915 –> 00:49:06,295
or education. You know, all the things that are used

769
00:49:06,355 –> 00:49:09,655
by folks in the media and in the culture

770
00:49:09,970 –> 00:49:13,750
and in the intellectual class in America to divide us

771
00:49:13,810 –> 00:49:17,250
along lines in order to

772
00:49:17,250 –> 00:49:20,850
manipulate us. You probably move past

773
00:49:20,850 –> 00:49:24,355
those things as a leader a long time ago. And if you are in the

774
00:49:24,355 –> 00:49:28,035
space of competency, you probably believe in merit. And

775
00:49:28,035 –> 00:49:31,095
merit merely means the best person

776
00:49:31,875 –> 00:49:35,635
who can actually act in the best way and do what

777
00:49:35,635 –> 00:49:38,960
is required in the best way gets the position

778
00:49:39,740 –> 00:49:41,520
regardless of what their external

779
00:49:43,340 –> 00:49:46,720
proclivities or abilities or

780
00:49:46,940 –> 00:49:49,280
gifts might be.

781
00:49:53,995 –> 00:49:57,595
Merit is brutal, and we don’t talk about IQ and we won’t on this podcast

782
00:49:57,595 –> 00:50:01,375
today. And we’re going a little bit fur far afield to make a point about

783
00:50:01,435 –> 00:50:04,875
the problem that All Quiet on the Western Front brings to us

784
00:50:04,875 –> 00:50:08,500
because it is a problem of class that this

785
00:50:08,500 –> 00:50:12,180
book brings to us. Should people have a certain

786
00:50:12,180 –> 00:50:15,859
elite class lead us because they are

787
00:50:15,859 –> 00:50:16,359
elite?

788
00:50:20,375 –> 00:50:23,895
That’s a penultimate question for our time. What does

789
00:50:23,895 –> 00:50:27,655
elite even mean? What does

790
00:50:27,655 –> 00:50:31,335
leadership mean? Does it mean you’re smarter than me because you’re able to

791
00:50:31,335 –> 00:50:34,775
manipulate a financial algorithm? Or does it mean

792
00:50:34,775 –> 00:50:38,150
you actually built something?

793
00:50:40,050 –> 00:50:43,730
You actually made something in the world. You actually solved a

794
00:50:43,730 –> 00:50:44,550
hard problem.

795
00:50:47,970 –> 00:50:51,605
These are all questions for you as a leader to consider

796
00:50:51,825 –> 00:50:55,265
when you read All Quiet on the Western Front. And by the way, this

797
00:50:55,265 –> 00:50:58,885
book will pound you in the face, just like those shells

798
00:50:59,025 –> 00:51:02,245
falling on the trenches with this question repeatedly

799
00:51:02,990 –> 00:51:06,589
over and over and over and over again until you

800
00:51:06,589 –> 00:51:10,430
recognize it and until you seek to find the answer in

801
00:51:10,430 –> 00:51:12,690
your own experience.

802
00:51:15,425 –> 00:51:18,885
But I have some thoughts as you probably can imagine

803
00:51:19,744 –> 00:51:23,505
about how to lead without the respect of

804
00:51:23,505 –> 00:51:27,345
those you seek to lead because everybody won’t like you. That’s not

805
00:51:27,345 –> 00:51:30,890
what I’m talking about. I’m talking about respect.

806
00:51:31,990 –> 00:51:34,810
If you don’t have it, how can you get it?

807
00:51:35,430 –> 00:51:39,190
Well, there’s a few key ways, actually, probably only

808
00:51:39,190 –> 00:51:42,890
really 2, maybe 2 and a half, that will lead you

809
00:51:43,175 –> 00:51:47,015
to getting that respect that you so desperately crave. By the

810
00:51:47,015 –> 00:51:50,315
way, don’t confuse that with liking. Don’t make that mistake.

811
00:51:52,135 –> 00:51:55,015
One of the things you wanna do is you wanna watch out for overconfidence based

812
00:51:55,015 –> 00:51:58,820
on your past successes. In a battle, in a conflict, in a

813
00:51:58,820 –> 00:52:02,280
disagreement, or in a leadership challenge of any kind,

814
00:52:02,500 –> 00:52:06,020
past performance is only indicative of a future, Dunning

815
00:52:06,020 –> 00:52:08,760
Kruger effect. You know,

816
00:52:09,474 –> 00:52:13,095
believing that you’re better than your last

817
00:52:13,635 –> 00:52:17,415
win. And the opposite of that, believing

818
00:52:17,875 –> 00:52:21,555
that you are worse than your

819
00:52:21,555 –> 00:52:25,319
last loss. Another

820
00:52:25,319 –> 00:52:29,079
thing you might wanna consider is this, asserting your will to win over and

821
00:52:29,079 –> 00:52:32,539
past another person’s resistance, psychological or physical,

822
00:52:32,920 –> 00:52:36,705
is a matter of patience, guile, observation of acted

823
00:52:36,705 –> 00:52:40,405
out behavior, and an understanding of the results, not only of your actions,

824
00:52:40,625 –> 00:52:44,465
but also an understanding and a curiosity about the

825
00:52:44,465 –> 00:52:47,985
actions of the enemy. If you

826
00:52:47,985 –> 00:52:51,799
lack curiosity about what the other side is doing,

827
00:52:52,180 –> 00:52:55,539
you cannot lead the people to battle the other

828
00:52:55,539 –> 00:52:59,380
side. Because if you lack curiosity about those folks, guess

829
00:52:59,380 –> 00:53:03,059
what? You probably lack curiosity about the motivations of your

830
00:53:03,059 –> 00:53:06,184
own people, And that’s a real problem.

831
00:53:10,885 –> 00:53:14,424
Final point. Gaining

832
00:53:14,644 –> 00:53:18,484
respect cannot come from speeches well delivered, fervor

833
00:53:18,484 –> 00:53:21,480
well rallied, or manufactured

834
00:53:21,980 –> 00:53:24,800
emotions that don’t really exist.

835
00:53:27,740 –> 00:53:31,520
Gaining respect comes from discipline, hard work,

836
00:53:31,974 –> 00:53:35,755
taking on risks that your followers can’t or won’t take on.

837
00:53:36,615 –> 00:53:39,994
And here’s a big one, actually

838
00:53:40,135 –> 00:53:41,515
enjoying the process.

839
00:53:44,130 –> 00:53:47,730
People pick up on that. They know when you like the

840
00:53:47,730 –> 00:53:51,349
fight. And as Ronald Reagan

841
00:53:52,930 –> 00:53:56,529
infamously said way back in the

842
00:53:56,529 –> 00:54:00,245
70s 80s, People want to follow

843
00:54:00,245 –> 00:54:01,625
a happy warrior.

844
00:54:04,565 –> 00:54:08,405
In our time, in our 4th turning, which

845
00:54:08,405 –> 00:54:11,465
is rapidly coming to a close,

846
00:54:12,980 –> 00:54:16,579
We’ve been a lot of there are a lot of dower warriors in our

847
00:54:16,579 –> 00:54:20,339
businesses, in our communities, in our families, and

848
00:54:20,339 –> 00:54:21,799
in our churches.

849
00:54:25,795 –> 00:54:29,555
But spring is coming. And don’t worry.

850
00:54:29,555 –> 00:54:33,315
There’ll still be wars and conflicts and battles and disputes. Those are

851
00:54:33,315 –> 00:54:36,755
natural human nature. You will still have to fight for

852
00:54:36,755 –> 00:54:39,655
love and fight for happiness.

853
00:54:41,170 –> 00:54:44,630
But when a secular spring shows up and it is coming,

854
00:54:46,930 –> 00:54:50,630
well, you’ll be able to smile

855
00:54:51,730 –> 00:54:55,110
and gain the respect of your followers and genuinely

856
00:54:55,250 –> 00:54:56,310
connect with them.

857
00:55:00,565 –> 00:55:04,244
And well, that’s it

858
00:55:04,244 –> 00:55:04,984
for me.