On Wings of Eagles

One methodology I use in teaching is Visualization. If you can see it in the mind’s eye, the lesson is learned. And, when you have no role models to emulate, you fanaticize a hero, somebody you would want to be, and strive to be it- if you can see it, you can be it.

No man can go into prison and put on airs like El General. In penitentiary hierarchy, you are ranked by seniority and character. Those at the top are seasoned, as warriors, masters of combat, well respected among their peers, and smart as hell. At best, a man comes through the prison gates as a buck private and work your way up the ranks.

In the toughest of the tough penitentiaries, a man gets no free bunk to lay his head on. He gets no free air to breath, no a free place to sit in the dining hall. A man must earn his right to exist. And, if he exists, he must earn the right to be respected as a man. Lastly, he must earn the right to come home. Nothing about prison life is a given.

Some men are pervaded by fear because they visualize themselves as being potential victims. These are the paranoids whose fears are uncovered by penitentiary soldiers whose job it was to break the weak out of the ranks. But meekness is no weakness, as one would think, and it is the meek left standing when the smoke clears.

I noted the men in prison at the top of the pyramid were very gentle-spirited, polite, and gentlemanly. They respected everybody and everybody respected them. But woe to the man who challenged them in hand-to-hand combat- they were fierce in battle. They carried themselves as men who wore eagles upon their shoulders- bird colonels would be their equivalent. The five-star guys were nearly invincible. But they never earned the right to come home. They were lifers. And, when they went out of this world, they left a legend behind.

Just wanted you to know something about leadership- the way it looks from the inside out.