Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Young Marines Keep That Bar High We grow as people when we overcome challenges By Joseph Lusignan Young Marines Deputy Director West Coast Operations In a world where the bar of challenge has been dropped so low that some could trip over it I want to salute those in our program that are striving to keep it high. It is no secret to youth that when put in front of a challenge some will say Its too hard and quit. High schools are full of those adrift and not striving to accomplish anything. What will their future look like Others will tackle it and once having completed it success- fully can honestly sayI did it. Another challenge Bring it Then there are others that will sayIts too hard and some adult will come along and say Yes it is. Let me make it easier for you. With the latter what did the child learn If I say I cant do it someone will give it to me anyway So wheres the incentive to try harder We grow when we step out of our comfort zone. Our muscles grow when we ex- pose them to stress. We grow as people when we overcome challenges. We also grow when we learn from our failures. When we navigate an obstacle suc- cessfully weve taught ourselves that we CAN DO IT. When we have to work a little maybe even a lot to achieve something that we want we KNOW that we earned it and it has more val- ueit adds to our self-esteem it adds to our pride. Well-meaning adults say they want to give kids self-esteem. This is a fal- lacy. You cant give a child self-esteem but you can give them opportunities to earn it. When the self-esteem bubble is fabricated it is simple to pop. When it is earned it comes with a sense of ac- complishment and is needle-proof. When our Young Marines reach a high- er level they know who among their peers earned it and who received it be- cause the path was made easy. When adults manipulate results when adults prevaricate on behalf of their children when we lower the bar for our kidswe do them more HARM than good. Just as with the title of Marine the title of Young Marine should reflect hard work it should reflect overcoming challengesand it should reflect the de- sire to stand up when others wont To do the right thing Not the easy thing. You want to change our future for the better Teach our children the value of earning what they receive. And I salute those who are doing this in our pro- gram. YOU are the ones who are build- ing tomorrows leaders. I will finish my article with a quote from some old dude who painted the ceiling of some famous church The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark. Michelangelo ESPRIT Page 7