Reflections - Limitation as Strength

Limitation as Strength

Detrimental only if not used to advantage

The conquests began from an apparent limitation. Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 BC), better known as Alexander the Great, was still being tutored by one of the greatest philosophers of all times, Aristotle, in the martial arts and how to rule, when his father Philip II, the powerful king of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was assassinated by a young Macedonian noble, Pausanias, for being denied justice. Alexander was 20 years old then.

 

His ascension to the throne was not a ‘walkover’. He had to fight for it. He quickly dealt with his enemies at home and reasserted Macedonian power within Greece. He then set out to conquer the massive Persian Empire.

 

Against overwhelming odds – which began with his ascension - he led his army to victories across the Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt without suffering a single defeat. His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela, in what is now northern Iraq, in 331 BC. The young king of Macedonia, leader of the Greeks, overlord of Asia Minor and pharaoh of Egypt became 'great king' of Persia at the age of 25.

Alexander’s army stopped at the outskirts of India. His men who battled for 13 years beside him against the strongest forces of that era, refused to budge from their demand to go back home to their families. Alexander had to give in. He sent them back by ship while he marched alongside on land perhaps not quite able to quench is ‘conquering spirit’ even when abandoned by his men.

 

Alexander died of a fever in Babylon in June 323 BC. When his body was being taken for burial to Alexandria in Egypt, one of the greatest cities he founded, it was stolen, and disappeared, never to be found.

 

Most people who rise to heights of greatness, rise despite or because of their limitations.

 

Abraham Lincoln was poor (born in a log cabin with not much to eat), was awkward looking with a gangly gait to match, with huge palms and funny ears. He incurred losses in business, personal loss of his mother, sister, child, fiancée. He had a mental breakdown, was married to a manic depressive, and had his own ‘dark night of the soul’.

 

He was believed to have a neurodegenerative disorder. He was defeated in State Legislature, US Congress and Senate elections 7 times overall, but when it counted, he won, to become the 16^th President of the United States of American in 1860.

 

He was humane, focused, witty, tenacious, gracious, self-taught, prayerful (“Bible is the only book he read for insights and to illustrate his points and vision and dependence on God for victory in the Civil War of Emancipation of Slavery”), and his very last action before his assassination was to stamp the line on the US Coin, “In God We Trust”.

 

The impression produced by the size of his extremities, and by his flapping and wide projecting ears, may be removed by the appearance of kindliness, sagacity, and the awkward bonhomie of his face...--William Howard Russell in My Diary North and South, March 27, 1861

When he was with me, I have seen him get a case and seem to be bewildered at first, but he would go at it and after a while he would master it. He was very tenacious in his grasp of a thing that he once got hold of. --Stephen Logan in the Lincoln Centennial Association Bulletin, September 1, 1928

He may not have been trained in much of the technical learning of the schools, but in point of mental development and mental discipline, the chief aim and object of education, he was highly educated. --Smith Stimmel in Personal Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln

As a writer he was fluent and forcible. His papers bore few marks of revision, and while his style was not Ciceronian, it was clear, pure, and easily comprehended. He composed letters amid distractions which would have appalled other men. --Edward Neill in Reminiscences of the Last Year of President Lincoln's Life

In conversation, he was a patient, attentive listener, rather looking for the opinion of others, than hazarding his own, and trying to view a matter in all of its phases before coming to a conclusion.
--William E. Doster in Lincoln and Episodes of the Civil War

Never did a President enter upon office with less means at his command, outside his own strength of heart and steadiness of understanding, for inspiring confidence in the people, and so winning it for himself, than Mr. Lincoln. --James Russell Lowell in the North American Review, January 1864

...he certainly did not dream that his principal duty would be to raise great armies and fleets, and the means to sustain them, for the suppression of the most determined and sanguinary rebellion, in defence of slavery, that our planet ever witnessed. --Henry Villard in "Recollections of Lincoln"

Lincoln was more familiar with the bible than any other book in the language, and this was apparent, both from his style of his illustrations, so often taken from that book. He verified the maxim that it is better to know thoroughly a few good books than to read many.
--Isaac Arnold in "Lincoln and Douglas as Lawyers"

The starkest example of people who make success of their life out of their seeming limitations are the comedians, vamps and villains in the movies. If not for their face or other awkwardness they would be unlikely candidates for celebrityhood. The clown in a circus gets his livelihood from being stunted; making his personal limitations a matter of joy for others especially innocent children who can stand head-to-head with him.

Some use their one core strength – their baritone voice – to cover up for their ‘non-chocolatey, brooding, even angry’ face and unusual disproportioned, non-six-abs physique. Those in India and fans of Hindi films know even before reading further that there is only one such person who fits the description: Amitabh Bachchan who continues to be the ‘Badshah’ of Bollywood, despite ‘chocolatey’ faced claimants.

What is key to the story of limitation that makes it a strength?

Three factors, really:

1.   Not wanting to be somebody else other than themselves

2.   Embracing their limitations and not shielding it from the world

3.   Unwilling to submit to stereotyping by others or accepting failure until the goal is achieved

We rarely hear of those who stopped short or gave up on their goals; much as we rarely remember who came second in a competition or was acclaimed for a historical achievement – stepping on the moon’s surface.

We all have our limitations and to our detriment we hide it well instead of letting it flower and serve the purpose for which we have been ‘blessed’ with the limitation. The limitations I speak of are not what we have brought upon ourselves through our disobedient, intemperate, imprudent, uncaring, and ‘devil-be-damned’ behaviour, but what is congenital, or result of an accident or sickness that we are called to bear.

We can all take comfort from the Word of God, which is the truth, and nothing but the truth (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)

“I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favour to the skilful. For time and chance happen to all.”

The US Army with the English played a stellar role, along with Stalin’s Soviet Union in the capitulation of Hitler and Germany in World War II. There are three US Generals who prominently feature in any narration of the WWII. Two are familiar names: General Eisenhower and General Patton (more for notoriety). There was one other: General Omar N. Bradley, (12 Feb 1893 – 8 April 1981). He was the last of the nation's five-star generals.

General Bradley became deputy commander of the United States II Corps, fighting in the Tebessa area under General Patton. His main duty, however, was to act as General Eisenhower's eyes and ears along the entire front. (The quirk of fate, during the Normandy landing, General Patton reported into General Bradley, and for a reason).

Although Field Marshal Montgomery was in direct command of the assault landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the command of the First Army and ultimately of the 12th Army Group was held by General Bradley through the remainder of the fighting in France and Germany. He was ashore fewer than 24 hours after the first Allied units hit the Normandy beaches.

After Germany's capitulation, General Bradley returned to Washington and took over as head of the Veterans Administration from 1945 to 1947. He then became Chief of Staff of the Army and served two terms as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, departing in 1954. He was made a five-star general in 1950.

The brief profile as it emerges in the above narration would give the impression that the three Generals topped their class at West Point.   

Cadet Bradley graduated 44th in a class of 164. General Eisenhower, a classmate, graduated 25th in the class. Patton struggled academically during his initial year at the U.S. Military Academy and was required to repeat his first year after failing mathematics. Patton worked with a tutor and redoubled his efforts to receive adequate grades the remainder of his tenure at West Point, eventually graduating 46th in his class of 103 cadets.

None of the three Generals topped their class. But they topped their profession. This is not to provide hope to those who do not study, but to those who due to limitations or out of other interests find it hard to be ‘toppers’.

As classmates at West Point, Eisenhower trusted Bradley to handle Patton, first as Eisenhower’s ‘eyes and ears’ when Bradley was appointed to Patton’s II Corps, and then as Patton’s boss, during the Normandy landing. In reality, no one other than General Eisenhower could manage Patton. General Eisenhower had the power to promote, transfer or fire Patton (very nearly did on couple of occasions).

General Patton was a maverick US army general, who was distinguished and distinct from all army generals active in WWII. He struck fear, as much in the heart of the enemy headquarters (read Rommel and Hitler), as well as, his own headquarters (read General Eisenhower) for his bold moves on the battlefield and erratic and emotional ways. On one occasion he slapped an infantryman in the army camp hospital for lying in bed with no injury; the infantryman was being treated for ‘trauma’ (an ailment alien to Patton).

We get a good insight into what leads to leadership from General Eisenhower’s his explanation to his HQ staff on managing Patton, when appointing Bradley to Patton’s II Corps:

The presence of a senior officer out of the chain of command is always irksome to the responsible commanders, and this occasion was no exception. But General Eisenhower appraised his men correctly when he wrote of General Bradley: ''He was a keen judge of men and their capabilities and was absolutely fair and just in his dealings with them. Added to this, he was emotionally stable and possessed a grasp of the larger issues that clearly marked him for high office.''

It is evident from these stories that none are born to greatness. Those who leverage their moments of crisis or God-given limitations, acquire traits that help them conquer empires, launch into celebrityhood, manage a country through civil war, or manage an army to thwart designs of evil men.

In times of economic crisis or forced lockdowns due to an infectious virus spread through community transmission (Covid-19) we are all challenged. It has separated family members across cities, states and countries due to travel restrictions. It has also forced the tormented and the tormentor to live cheek-by-jowl in close quarters for weeks and months. Between March 25 – May 17 2020 a Child Helpline has received over 300,000 calls for help arising from domestic violence.  

Every limitation when addressed can be a source of strength (the idea of a Child Helpline for children in these times) by conquering it and leveraging it to our advantage to achieve a personal or collective good (Alexander the Great marauding conquests, exempted).