Warriors Understand Suffering

Fire 2 with Frankl quoteRecently I was helping direct traffic before a concert that I was working security. There were two of us SET (Special Event Team) members and two police officers working when it started to pour down on us. We were soaked pretty quick. The other SET member asked the police captain if he could get a couple others to come and relieve us because he was wet and cold. When I overheard him asking this, I thought to myself a couple of things. First, “he must have never been in the Army,” and second, “We are already soaked, why make two more people get soaked too.”

The captain sent him inside, and the three of us remaining in the rain handled the traffic before going in to dry off a little and work inside the concert. Did I like it? No, but it was the job I had to do and I wasn’t going to whine about it or try to get out of it. I certainly wasn’t going to quit and leave my post.

You see, warriors must understand suffering, and accept it, big and small. Standing out in the rain directing traffic is pretty minor compared to the suffering many endure. It wouldn’t even register on the suffering scale of many. However, enduring small amounts of discomfort and pain allows us to then better deal with the bigger things we sometimes must face.

Suffering happens, but it doesn’t last forever. It can make us stronger. As Dan Millman wrote in “No Ordinary Moments: A Peaceful Warrior’s Guide to Daily Life,” “Pain, whether in body, mind, or emotions, is a fire storm that purifies all in its path, clearing old karma and teaching new lessons. Don’t seek pain, but when it comes, the path out of the fire reveals hard-earned wisdom.”

Every pain endured contains a lesson to be learned. Live with the Warrior’s Edge, and looking at suffering with a warrior’s perspective can help to understand and accept the natural cycles of good times and bad times, and appreciate the uses of both.

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