https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=csEsLNSLUuw
That tell it apart Hard work actually works and with virtually everything it might not make you the best at Whatever it is you’re pursuing but it will certainly make you better than you are and and then I have in this I have this New book. I hope you got a copy because we did you get a copy? Okay, so I’m bringing it up for a particular reason I have a chapter in this book called Well, there’s two that are relevant imagine who you could be and then aim single-mindedly at that that’s one and then the Course or what would you call a complementary chapter is? Work as hard as you possibly can on one thing and see what happens and that’s also predicated on this idea that Discipline is a precondition to freedom. So so you were fortunate like you had this goal, right? So that meant you had a goal which is a really big deal because you could learn about goals you had a sense of What a higher mode of moral being that I would rather be a good seal than the person I am now Well, it’s a it’s a code of behavior and a way of perceiving so there’s an ethic in that and then you said as well You know your conception of what good seal meant changed as you matured But that’s also fine. It wouldn’t have changed unless you would have pursued that initial Only partially accurate goal and so that’s also a really good thing for people to understand is like If you don’t know what you’re doing aim at something, is it the right thing? No But it’s better than just shooting randomly. So you aim at something and then as you aim and you move towards it you’re gonna find out why you’re wrong and then you might recalibrate your aim and That’s gonna happen over and over because as you move towards a goal it recedes or it broadens or it recedes and broadens and Otherwise you’d run out of things to do So but anyways back to the back to the story your you you have this This this identity and you said it was it was there in you all right from the beginning because you would play army In by yourself even in the in the in the forest by your house I presume and how old were you do you think when? How long back can you remember? Having that as a fascination. I Do not remember wanting to do anything else So would you say what is as early is that as early as four three five preschool something like that can you remember playing when you were that young I I I can’t remember You know a specific age, but if I think back to hey That looks like what I want to do I remember I want to be a soldier And do you okay? You remember when you were a kid? I mean I’m fascinated by this because Well one of the things I really noted when I had kids was how much their personality was there right from the beginning Like my children are quite different They have their similarities But they’re quite different from one another and those differences were there right from the beginning and they’ve maintained themselves throughout their lives And so that’s fascinating to see that that destiny in some sense is built right into the person to begin with and so Well, this was built into you by all appearances And so it manifested it in itself in what attracted you Even in play as a as a child and that’s the beginning of identity formulation that that play and so what was it about? Being a soldier that you think attracted you when you were a kid like what what was it that was so compelling? Because being a soldier is a multi-dimensional Identity there’s there’s there’s the the the physical combat element of it. There’s the strategic element of it There’s the the discipline the camaraderie What what were you playing? Do you think I? Got asked this I was talking to some folks at the Special Operations Command The other day and they asked me they set me up with this kind of beautiful Possibility or opportunity for me to give some kind of an incredibly beautiful answer to this very question, you know, and there was something along the lines of you know at what point did the did the opportunity to serve and sacrifice for your country Reveal itself to you or something along that those lines. Mm-hmm. And all I’m thinking about is when I’m eight years old twelve years old fifteen years old I Want a machine gun and I want to go fight the war that’s what I want to do I would love to tell you I would love to tell you that I you know read some heroic book I read the Odyssey and and realized that that I don’t need to read any that stuff Well, that wouldn’t be wrong to do with it eight anyways, right? I mean, that’s why I’m curious about what it was so early, you know, and so okay So for you it had something to do with weaponry apparently I got to tell you a story about my father Okay, and tell me if this act we like produces any echoes before you go. Yep Weaponry was like sure that’s fine, but it could be a club It wasn’t it wasn’t I wasn’t a kid that was obsessed with guns Okay, it was and and maybe it was just we’re gonna get out and and run around with sticks and try and hit each other Or get into rock fights. Mm-hmm. You ever have rock fights when I work? Well, we we had ice fights because it was northern Alberta But also dirt lump fights and now and then those would have rocks and I can remember It was usually the Protestant kids against the Catholic kids I mean there wasn’t that much of a division between those two in our town But the Catholic kids had their height their junior high and high school and we had ours and so our gangs were separate and so We would have dirt lump fights in the vacant lots where buildings were being constructed and those were extremely exciting you know now and then you’d take a dirt lump rock in the mouth and that was a little bit on the painful side and but but but there’s no doubt that it was extremely exciting and so and Cut you off about your dad and the gun Oh, well, my dad told me something and then this might be more relevant to to to guns But my dad collects single-shot rifles and he has a lot of them like hundreds of them and he’s a gunsmith and and makes stocks and hand carves them and anyways, he’s he’s an artisan in that regard and It’s really it’s a it’s a real focal obsession. He’s a great shot. He shot at the provincial level, which would be the state level in the US But it was single shots and and he hunted and so we grew up on moose meat and elk meat and and he brought elk into northern Alberta as part of a repopulation attempt anyways, I Thought for I could never understand his fascination with with guns because it was really a deep fascination So it was it was something that elicited my curiosity and at one point I realized that He only hunted with single shots So he had one shot at whatever he was hunting so it had to be a good shot And so he was pushing himself and then I realized well he was really obsessed with hitting the target taking aim and hitting the target and It was about that time. I learned that the Greek word for for sin hamartia meant to miss the target So there’s this tight alignment between taking careful aim at the center of something Precisely and then bringing yourself into alignment so that you would hit that target There’s a deep morality in that it’s a morality of hunting it might be a morality of combat and it’s really deeply embedded inside of people and that was what had my father in his in its in its grip and so I would I was wondering if the if if you’re if you’re The automatic interest that that even the club Elicited in you had something to do with that that seeking that hunting that that target seeking or if you know Perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree. I would say No, but when you when you were talking about getting hit in the head with a dirt clump and whether you get hit or not When you get done with that situation You are in an elevated state of mind because that was dangerous and it was a very high level competition because even when you’re throwing a baseball or Or, you know kicking a soccer ball around There’s no real danger in that situation. But when someone’s hucking dirt clumps at your head you get a legitimate rush from that and It feels good and it feels it’s exhilarating one of the most fun Yes, if there’s no doubt that it’s exhilarating one of the most fun days I ever had as a child This was less dangerous. I I lived next door to a policeman an RCMP officer and We went out one day. I was probably about eight into my neighbor’s backyard and she had Green tomatoes everywhere far more than you would think Green tomatoes everywhere far more than she was ever going to eat and we had a green tomato war For like an hour and a half and he was moving them at a pretty good velocity So if they caught you especially in the head You know You kind of remembered it but it was exhilarating and it was really fun to engage in that with him And I really do remember that and I do remember those I hadn’t until today, but I do remember those dirt lump wars and there is an exhilaration in pushing yourself like that so and I also don’t I don’t want to give the impression that I was You know running around with camouflage paint going to high school or I was you know, I I was doing a bunch other stuff, too I played soccer. I played basketball I I we had you know a bunch of different bands. We played music I I played bass in a band. I sang in a band. I played guitar We we did all kinds of other stuff, but Yeah, I was always kind of just in the back of my mind sort of wanted to do that job All right, so you went to the seals And tell us about that a bit It was awesome You know, it’s your uh You’re making more money than you could ever figure out to do With you know, i’m 19 years old and I am the richest person that’s ever existed in my mind because i’m making whatever it is however many thousand dollars every two weeks and you know my expenses were nothing and so you’re just Totally stoked you’re getting you got a great job. You’re working out you’re shooting machine guns You’re blowing things up You’re hanging out with a bunch of bunch of other guys that like to blow things up and You you you can fight each other at the drop of a hat And then you get done with a fight and you shake hands and then and then you go eat a steak and So you’re just in this environment and it’s Perfect. It’s it’s freaking awesome So what was it like? It was awesome That’s what it was like It’s funny you read accounts of the navy seals and i’ve never read it as enthusiastic an account as that account right there