Today the movie the Avengers grossed over 200 million, and I read it took approximately 250 million dollars to make. That means that this weekend, the film almost paid for itself. Each of the main characters (except for Black Widow, Phil and Nick Fury) had their own movie before the culmination of this Marvel product, but bringing them together under the threat of world domination from alien beings (and an evil god) brought something back to the people of the United States. What this brilliantly written script, filled with humor, self sacrifice, humility and leadership, did for American people is bring back a dose of American pride.
Over my 30 years in the U.S. Military and Public Health Commissioned Service I've seen support for service uniforms wax and wane. After over a decade of war in both Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting against terrorism and extremist ideas instead of some other country, I'd become disheartened at our political ethics. In my career, I've seen more money wasted than what actually seemed to do good. I've seen totem pole scrambles as military and government leadership fought for the top. And all of this time, I'd seldom met a leader that I wanted to emulate.
The first leader I ever met, who I really admired, was my Company Commander, Petty Officer First Class Daniloff. In 1982, the woman exuded strength, and had the Wonder Woman task of whipping 80 wanna-be women into something the Navy could use for service. Our CC was someone who immediately inspired me. She made me want to be better than I was. She helped me to be proud of being an American and I learned to love my uniform and love my country like I never had before.
The second leader I ever met was the same rank as me. She'd gone through Aircrew School in Pensacola, just like me, and was one of the few females to make it through the training. When fellow sailors sat on their ass waiting for each other to park an airplane on the flight line, this woman was one of the first people to pipe up and say she'd take care of the work. I learned to follow suit, and I will always thank Karen Graham for teaching me the value of a hard work ethic.
You might think that during my five years of active duty military enlisted service, I had tons of role models, mentors or people that I admired. But the truth was, I didn't. I had to learn to rely mostly on myself. I learned my own strengths, and I stumbled over my weaknesses. My mental knees were skinned and scarred from how many times I tripped up, but I always found my footing and I was honorably discharged from the Navy and entered Nursing School at Old Dominion University the Fall of 1988.
Nursing school was a huge challenge. It was the hardest I ever worked up until that point. But during that time I met three amazing leaders who changed my life. The first was a nursing instructor, Professor Linda Lilley. The woman was an amazon when it came to medical-surgical nursing. I remember arriving to the nursing floor at the hospital at 5:30AM and reading my patient charts so I could be prepared rather than suffer her wrath. Professor Lilley rewarded hard work, and she eschewed those who were lazy, and it wasn't a passing grade I sought from her as much as it was the reward that I'd done my best in her eyes. She was a professor who worked harder than any of her students combined, and she took her job seriously. Our care for the patients was a reflection of how she trained us, and she would never have wanted a patient to suffer because she'd failed to teach us to do our best.
My most life-altering leader during this time-period was in training under Sensei Hiroyuki Hamada. He was head of the martial arts program at Old Dominion University, and it was through him that I learned that I could do whatever I set my mind to. I learned my body and mind were stronger than I imagined. Respect for others as well as respect for the self were philosophies to be cultivated. And I learned 'Beginner's Mind,' and the priceless art of seeing everything new each moment, learning to understand the spectacular existence of the here and now. Through him, I saw the beauty of life's struggle, where once I used to see tragedy and sorrow, and I learned that we are strongest when we open ourselves up to our vulnerabilities, look deep inside and work to overcome them.
My dearest friend Alice McCleary (McCleary Martial Arts in Dallas Georgia), I first met at a Chuck Norris Martial Arts studio in Norfolk Virginia. I'd started training there, as well as at ODU, and took lessons from a teacher named Ed Saenz. Right before one of my classes this crazy woman sat down on the mat beside me and started talking to me like she'd known me forever. Little did I know that she'd made her life training martial arts since the age of fourteen, and was taking on the style of Chun Kuk Do just for fun. Alice taught me about friendship and love. True friendship and love. Not the kind you have just because it's convenient or popular. She was honest, forthright and lived by her values and to this day she is still that way. I'm indebted to her for always.
Most people aren't as lucky as me, to have found such strong and influential leaders in their lives. Since 1992, after I graduated from ODU, my family (husband Jim, daughter Kira and son Sean), and my brother Rob and my Dad, have each taught me something special. My mother died in 1997, and it wasn't until then that I realized how much she'd taught me about fierce love along the way. I've also met several spiritual teachers, Monks and Ani's, Khenchen, Holiness Penor Rinpoche, Jetsunma Ahkon Llhamo and my dearest Guru Holiness Karma Kuchen. I'm forever grateful for their guidance.
However, there were times in my life when I both witnessed and experienced great despair. I went to Afghanistan in 2010 on a military deployment that I thought wouldn't be so bad. And it wouldn't been half so difficult if it weren't for my military leadership and the people I saw dead or dying each day. It was there that I saw the wasting of American dollars in concert with the military caskets draped with flags and loaded on C-17's bound for the U.S.. I watched the remains of heroes headed toward loved ones who would never see them alive again. The abuses of government authority and poor military planning resulted in an environment of disharmony, poor morale and a failure to cultivate the principles of respect and military conduct essential to win a war. The compelling desire for leadership to climb the corporate ladder in the name of power and fame and the next silver star, led to thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen, who were separated from their country by oceans and poor communication, to flail in the stomach acid of a land that housed a terrorist organization determined to vomit them out.
Back in the U.S., the media stopped covering important stories of the war. The struggle became unpopular until the day on May 2nd, 2011, that Osama Bin Laden was killed by our U.S. forces during a raid on his personal hideaway. Even then, our national celebrations lasted a week or so, and then our fighting men and women were forgotten once more. Oh, sure, the care packages kept on arriving, and now and then a mass car bombing made the news on CNN, but the pride of America still floundered in a maelstrom of global upheaval and it still struggles to remain afloat today.
But... can something so simple as a film dedicated to American ideals bring back pride? I may sound crazy to say, "I think so." The artistry of the Avengers movie demonstrated that, both on screen and off, tremendous cooperation can produce amazing results. And for me, as I watched Captain America become the group's leader because of his strategic and military skills and his quick decision making, even though I knew it was a movie, I started to feel pride in my country once more. I thought of the years I'd served fueling airplanes, doing patrols, nursing the sick, delivering babies, helping troops with their healthcare and sacrificing time away from my family so our military service-members could get home to theirs...and I realized how much I love the United States of America.
Maybe it's silly to think that a 2 hour and 22 minute film can bring back a shred of American dignity. Perhaps, like Captain America, I'm naive and altruistic. But who's to say that's a bad thing? If I can keep this feeling just a big longer...if I can hold on to the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then maybe, just maybe, others can too.
When I wake up in the morning, is it too much to hope that the thousands who made the pilgrimage to the movie theaters and who watched the Avengers on screen, and the millions more who will see it in the future, will take it's message to heart? Group cooperation in the face of adversity, belief in fighting for freedom and knocking down those who want dominion over others, protecting the weak and recognizing our differences while loving and accepting each other in spite of them...maybe it IS too much to hope for.
But hope I will.
Tomorrow I vow I will be a conduit of the ideas behind Captain America. I'll use my shield to serve and protect. I'll use the training and the gifts that all of my leaders selflessly gave me, and hell or high water, political vampires or bullies, terrorists or aliens... I will work with others to make the world a much better place. After all, given the lives who've fought for our freedom, who've bled and died for my freedom and the future of my children, it's a pretty small thing to ask. Not only that, but I realize that I really want to.
I practice a Buddhist way of life, and though I don't believe in a white man sitting on a cloud watching over me, I do believe in a higher power. That power is indescribable, and comes from a place that is beyond my human ability to completely conceptualize. And I don't feel hypocritical when I look at the flag of the United States billowing in the wind, when I hear the Star Spangled Banner, or hear Lee Greenwood belt out, "I'm proud to be an American..." and the tears stream down my cheeks like the Mississippi river.
I don't feel a shred of conflict or a need to conform and be 'politically correct' when I say with all my heart: "God bless the U.S.A."
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