“With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.”—Desmond Doss, Hacksaw Ridge
I finally got around to watching Hacksaw Ridge with my family. What a great movie! What an even greater story.
I believe myself to be a man of conviction. Many might call me stubborn. Some might call me worse. Few will deny, however, that I stand by my beliefs. Am I as steadfast in my convictions as Desmond Doss? I pray I am never so tested. I would want to be, however.
We are all convicted to some extent. We should be, at least. Some may remember the words from the old Aaron Tippen song: “You’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.” In today’s society, many seem to be standing. The stand, however, tends to be in opposition to something. There is quite a difference between standing for and standing against.
The difference between standing for something versus standing against something is a matter of motive. When we stand against something, we are motivated by our own selfish wants (whether noble or otherwise). When we stand for something we are motivated Spiritually and Socially. In other words, we recognize that we are not at the center of the universe and others may not share our convictions and beliefs, but we sincerely want what is best for others.
Consider Desmond Doss’s story. Here is a man who, for many reasons, was convicted that he should never pick up a gun. He lived during one of man’s greatest wars and felt called to serve his country. He chose to serve as an Army medic and refused to carry a weapon. In his stand, he demanded that the Army allow him to serve in such a capacity. He could have 1) chosen not to enlist, 2) resigned from the Army under pressure (and no one would have thought the less of him), or 3) he could have trained to use a gun, but never use one in battle. I think many of us, if we shared his belief, would have been fine with any of these options. Doss, however, chose to stand, despite criticism and abuse, to serve—unarmed—in one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. He considered himself a “conscientious cooperator” more so than a conscientious objector. He understood the magnitude of the conflict with Japan. He was, however, convicted to save rather than take lives.
There are many lessons that can be taken from this story. One, that I emphasize here, is that our convictions can serve to unite us or to divide us. It is a matter of how we live our convictions. We can let our convictions lead to protest, or we can let our convictions lead to action. Protests rarely lead to real change. Action—founded on conviction—always does. When we stand for something and do so for the good of others before ourselves, great things happen. Conviction without love is stubbornness. Stubbornness promotes conflict. Conflict breeds more conflict.
If we are truly convicted in a set of beliefs, standing for them will change people. If, instead, we stand in opposition to those who don’t share our set of beliefs, we drive further the wedge between us. I like the phrase: “conscientious cooperator”. Imagine if we all took the cooperative approach to our differences….
Carpe momento!