Team:

COACH GARY HERE. THIS IS EPISODE 19 OF THE ‘BRICK AND BLOCK PODCAST’ AND FEATURES THE AUDIO VERSION OF MY JANUARY 2020 COLUMN written for MASONRY MAGAZINE. YOU PROBABLY KNOW THE COLUMN AS ‘FULL CONTACT PROJECT MANAGER’. THE TITLE OF THE COLUMN YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR IS:

 Looking Forward by

Knowing the Past                                                                  …Remembering the Rest of the Story

Team—

WARNING: THIS PODCAST RUNS COUNTER TO WHAT MANY COLLEGE PROFESSORS BELIEVE.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

NOTE: This article was originally written, a couple of years ago, to provide some history of December 7, 1941. It is even more important this year, as you should hear much talk about that date, now 80 years ago, this December. It’s critical you get the whole story, as opponents of Western Civilization may be doing their best to tarnish, trample…and torpedo the reality of the 2^nd World War.

Look, as you can tell, I’m about fed up with the “Egghead” class, changing language, changing history, changing values, changing beliefs…heck, changing genders, making this stuff up as they go along.

It’s time for some sanity and perspective, which is what “Coach Gary” is about to deliver. Stand by!

All things considered, in some respects, this might be one of the most important podcasts I’ve ever done. But, then again…all of my podcasts are important! So…dig in!

We begin immediately,     and by immediately,   I mean once I remind everyone that you can find our podcast website at BRICK AND BLOCK PODCAST DOT COM (repeat).

As I’ve said before, I’m a big proponent of having websites that support your business, and I’ve got an excellent example of one: Masonry Contractor Special Website. You’ll see it there. That’s what you’re looking for. It’s mobile friendly, modern, fast, bullet proof, BEAUTIFUL, cutting edge, DONE FOR YOU, and practically free! You’ll love this one. Check it out.

Of course, if you’re not a masonry contractor, we have very similar websites, but in your specialty. So…check it out.

OKAY, TEAM.    HANG ON, BUCKLE UP… LISTEN UP,  AND PREPARE TO MOVE UP.

And now, Episode 19

Looking Forward by Knowing the Past                                               …Remembering The Rest of the Story

By Coach Gary Micheloni

“Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” (Winston Churchill, 1948 and George Santayana, 1905)

For absolute certainty, there will be no shortage of articles and messages this time of year about “20-20 vision” and that sort of thing! But I ask you to invest a few moments right now and look at my little offering, because it just might be super-significant for you in this uncertain world and industry we find ourselves. Stuff always happens but you need to hang in there because ‘the rest of the story’ might just be right around the corner… to the part where the cavalry arrives and the good guys win. 

That’s the theme for the New Year because that’s my hope and expectation. Check it out.

For the past 20+ years now I have been meeting for breakfast with the same group of guys the first Saturday of each month. It is amazing to me the amount of wisdom coming from them, on all sorts of subjects and ideas, and I hope you have the same kind of people in your life. They are among my most important mentors— my coaches.

So, when “Coach Mark” approached me and said that our group of guys would be meeting on December 7th next and wondered if I might want to share something about the significance of that day. I agreed, provided we could go into the lessons learned and the leadership attached to that significant day. What does it all mean--for that time, and for ours, going forward?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt summed up things this way: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...I regret to tell you that many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu…”

Pretty bad stuff, right? But let’s not miss “the rest of the story.” Is the cavalry on its way? Is there going to be a ‘rest of the story?’ Let’s take a look.

Those two sentences from FDR were the facts, and they are terrible. But those facts are only part of the story, which is far more profound, much larger, and more significant. The story does not end there. In fact, it doesn’t even begin there! Because where it actually begins has everything to do with — not where it ends, but where it is heading. You knowing what that heading is, has everything to do with how your business, community, and family grow, 

We’re talking about the history of our country because it is the driving force of your legacies, be it business, community or family going forward. Do not miss this!

In your experience, you know that things often go wrong, “unsolvable” problems present themselves, seemingly impossible issues arise. Things are going along well and then, out of the blue, bad stuff happens. In this case, Pearl Harbor is attacked “out of the blue,” the enemy seeking to destroy the US Pacific Fleet. 

In fact, on that Sunday morning, 9 US battleships were in port. The enemy thought it had accomplished its mission, but it miscalculated — you’ll learn why in a moment. But the lesson here is that life situations, which might cripple the unwitting, will not take you down— provided you understand your legacy, and how critical it is to pass this along to others and that they might do the same. 

So, let’s go to the beginning of the story. What i0s this uniquely American legacy that redeems us from the bad and gets us to the good? Let’s start here.

America was settled by people seeking freedom of religion, the press, for the right to own property, and a desire to be governed by the rule of law— not ruled according to the dictations and might of kings. In this country, for the first time ever in the history of the world, we solemnly believed and resolved that the king was no longer to be the law. But that law, itself, was to be king. This turned civilization on its head!

To make this happen, Americans picked a fight with the mightiest nation on earth at the time, to instill into its people and install into its government, the sanctity that these rights, held by most people, were ‘God-given.’ A formal Declaration of Independence was written and then signed by 57 men each pledging, “Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” It would cost many of them exactly that. In 1776 this Revolution, tenuous at first and unlikely to succeed, overcame the impossible and the miraculous came to pass. Tens of thousands of lives were taken, wounded, or captured to make this a reality. Never forget: this is our legacy.

In 1861, a great Civil War was fought to decide the issue of slavery. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing— on paper, at least the slaves in rebelling states. 

April 9, 1865, the south surrendered. April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated. Over four years, more than 620,000 soldiers from both sides cast ‘the ultimate vote,” as did President Lincoln. The law was settled. At great cost, the nation moved on. Our legacy of freedom was preserved.  

Fast forward to 1941 and the specter of world war. The US and Japan had ongoing diplomatic negotiations and peace talks up through December 6, in Washington DC. With talks scheduled to continue the following week. Sunday was supposed to be an off day. 

This now brings us back to the events of December 7th, 1941:

7:55 a.m, the first wave of 183 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers attacked Pearl Harbor.

8:10 a.m. a 1,800-pound bomb lands in the USS Arizona’s forward ammunition magazine. The ship explodes and sinks with 1,000+ men trapped inside.

Torpedoes hit the USS Oklahoma with about 400 sailors aboard; she loses balance, rolls to her side and sinks. 

8:54 a.m. the second wave of 170 planes attacked. The battle was over before 10:00 a.m.

In its wake, 2,403 service members were killed, 1,178 wounded, 169 US Army Air Corps and Navy planes destroyed. 19 vessels were damaged, nearly half of which were sunk, fully or partially. Every battleship in Pearl Harbor had sustained significant damage: the USS Arizona, Oklahoma, California, West Virginia, Utah, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Nevada. Pretty bad stuff, right? Do things get better?

Know that all but the Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired so that six battleships were returned to service.

The Japanese ambassadors left town on December 8th!

December 9, 1941, Americans begin to enlist in record numbers. During the course of the war, over 16 million Americans served, from a US population of 140 million — 11% of all Americans fought in WW2. (By comparison, 1% during the Iraq war.) Every family had a stake in this fight, either in the military or in support of it. (My mom and at leas