One of my favorite movies is the star-studded 1976 classic, "Midway", which recounts the historical World War Two battle of the same name. If you are unfamiliar with either the film or the battle, the U. S. Navy has intercepted and decoded the Imperial Japanese Navy’s secret code.
As a result, the U.S. knows that Japan plans to attack and invade the island of Midway, and use it and its airstrip as a staging base to attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet – specifically the aircraft carriers which were at sea and thus missing when Japan had earlier attacked Pearl Harbor.
Little does Japan know that the very U.S. aircraft carriers she desires to lure out and sink have actually positioned themselves northwest of the island of Midway, and are in fact lying in wait to ambush the attacking Japanese fleet.
My favorite scene in that movie is the one in which the officer in tactical command of U.S. carrier forces, Rear Admiral Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher (played by Robert Webber), is sitting in the bridge of the U.S. Carrier Yorktown, anxiously looking out over the ocean as he awaits the crucial battle to unfold when he suddenly states: "I'd give my retirement pay to know what Nagumo is up to now."
He is referring to Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (played by James Shigeta), who is the Japanese officer in charge of the Japanese carrier strike force about to attack the island of Midway.
Thereupon, a subordinate officer, Lieutenant Matt Garth (played by Charlton Heston), responds by saying: "Same thing we are, Admiral… Sweating it out!"
Who among us cannot relate to Lieutenant Garth’s assertion? Who among us has not spent many an hour sweating out some unfolding event and/or impending incident?! I know I have. Whether that involved the release of a report card in grade school or the answer to a love note in middle school or the response to an invitation to a date in high school, the dread was always the same.
Later in life, the sweating continued, only with far greater consequences. These included the reply to a job application, the answer to a marriage proposal, the approval of a mortgage request, the pronouncement of a healthy childbirth, etc., etc…
All of this brings me to my point. "Sweating it out" is a perfect metaphor for where I find myself once again this day, and for how I feel right now. You see, at 7:15 am this morning, I walked into my doctor’s office to have my blood drawn for analysis in preparation for my upcoming annual physical.
Now, to be sure, in anticipation of this day, I’ve done just about all I know to do to prepare. I’ve cut back on the carbs; I’ve dutifully watched what else and how much I have eaten; I’ve faithfully taken my prescription medicines along with a whole host of supplements; I’ve walked each and every day; and gone to the gym with reasonable faithfulness. Still, I’d just about give my retirement pay to know what the folks at the lab plan to throw at me in response!
The famed American Comedian, Mark Twain, is purported to have once quipped: "Some of the worst things in my life never happened." This quotation is variously reported as: "I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." But either way, the intent is the same. That is why I prefer a similar version of this quote equally attributed to Twain: "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened."
As I look back on my life, I realize that the vast majority of things I fretted and worried over never even materialized! The report card never said “Failed”. The love note, when answered, was reciprocal (and indeed, when not answered, was, as another Garth [Brooks, this time] asserted, an unanswered prayer for which to thank God!) The same is true for high school dates; just as it was for college and job applications.
More to the point, my one and only wedding proposal was met with a resounding yes. As was the affirmation of the doctor on three occasions for a healthy child, and on seven occasions for a healthy grandchild!
In light of this, what is a little blood work and an annual physical? After all, I have traveled this very same road with this very same doctor each and every year for over a decade now. And every time I have fretted, I have found it all for naught.
All of this has again brought to mind the words of Jesus in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 25-34. Here, we read:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?’'
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
No less than five times in these ten verses, Jesus admonishes us not to worry. Little wonder, for while it behooves us to be prudent and to do all we can to prepare for tomorrow, we can never be in complete control of the future. That prerogative, my friend, belongs to God, and God alone.
By the way, that same God made a promise to us through the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 29, verse 11) when he said: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
My strong suspicion is that those to whom President Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred to as “the American people in their righteous might” would have found this particular verse of scripture very apropos.
By the way, while it was a fierce and costly fight, the U.S. prevailed in the Battle of Midway. Just as they eventually did in the island hopping campaign, in the overall Pacific Theatre, and ultimately, in World War Two itself!
In light of all this, I leave you with the immortal words of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman: “What, me worry?”
SOURCES:
MIDWAY MOVIE:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074899/;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_(1976_film).
https://clip.cafe/midway-1976/same-thing-are/.
MARK TWAIN QUOTE:
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/10581/some-of-the-worst-things-in-my-life-never-happened;
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/31860-i-ve-lived-through-some-terrible-things-in-my-life-some;
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/201777-i-ve-had-a-lot-of-worries-in-my-life-most.
SCRIPTURES:
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/6.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-11.htm.
FDR’s DAY OF INFAMY SPEECH:
https://www.ushistory.org/documents/infamy.htm.
SEE ALSO:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman.
As a result, the U.S. knows that Japan plans to attack and invade the island of Midway, and use it and its airstrip as a staging base to attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet – specifically the aircraft carriers which were at sea and thus missing when Japan had earlier attacked Pearl Harbor.
Little does Japan know that the very U.S. aircraft carriers she desires to lure out and sink have actually positioned themselves northwest of the island of Midway, and are in fact lying in wait to ambush the attacking Japanese fleet.
My favorite scene in that movie is the one in which the officer in tactical command of U.S. carrier forces, Rear Admiral Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher (played by Robert Webber), is sitting in the bridge of the U.S. Carrier Yorktown, anxiously looking out over the ocean as he awaits the crucial battle to unfold when he suddenly states: "I'd give my retirement pay to know what Nagumo is up to now."
He is referring to Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (played by James Shigeta), who is the Japanese officer in charge of the Japanese carrier strike force about to attack the island of Midway.
Thereupon, a subordinate officer, Lieutenant Matt Garth (played by Charlton Heston), responds by saying: "Same thing we are, Admiral… Sweating it out!"
Who among us cannot relate to Lieutenant Garth’s assertion? Who among us has not spent many an hour sweating out some unfolding event and/or impending incident?! I know I have. Whether that involved the release of a report card in grade school or the answer to a love note in middle school or the response to an invitation to a date in high school, the dread was always the same.
Later in life, the sweating continued, only with far greater consequences. These included the reply to a job application, the answer to a marriage proposal, the approval of a mortgage request, the pronouncement of a healthy childbirth, etc., etc…
All of this brings me to my point. "Sweating it out" is a perfect metaphor for where I find myself once again this day, and for how I feel right now. You see, at 7:15 am this morning, I walked into my doctor’s office to have my blood drawn for analysis in preparation for my upcoming annual physical.
Now, to be sure, in anticipation of this day, I’ve done just about all I know to do to prepare. I’ve cut back on the carbs; I’ve dutifully watched what else and how much I have eaten; I’ve faithfully taken my prescription medicines along with a whole host of supplements; I’ve walked each and every day; and gone to the gym with reasonable faithfulness. Still, I’d just about give my retirement pay to know what the folks at the lab plan to throw at me in response!
The famed American Comedian, Mark Twain, is purported to have once quipped: "Some of the worst things in my life never happened." This quotation is variously reported as: "I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened." But either way, the intent is the same. That is why I prefer a similar version of this quote equally attributed to Twain: "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened."
As I look back on my life, I realize that the vast majority of things I fretted and worried over never even materialized! The report card never said “Failed”. The love note, when answered, was reciprocal (and indeed, when not answered, was, as another Garth [Brooks, this time] asserted, an unanswered prayer for which to thank God!) The same is true for high school dates; just as it was for college and job applications.
More to the point, my one and only wedding proposal was met with a resounding yes. As was the affirmation of the doctor on three occasions for a healthy child, and on seven occasions for a healthy grandchild!
In light of this, what is a little blood work and an annual physical? After all, I have traveled this very same road with this very same doctor each and every year for over a decade now. And every time I have fretted, I have found it all for naught.
All of this has again brought to mind the words of Jesus in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 25-34. Here, we read:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?’'
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
No less than five times in these ten verses, Jesus admonishes us not to worry. Little wonder, for while it behooves us to be prudent and to do all we can to prepare for tomorrow, we can never be in complete control of the future. That prerogative, my friend, belongs to God, and God alone.
By the way, that same God made a promise to us through the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 29, verse 11) when he said: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
My strong suspicion is that those to whom President Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred to as “the American people in their righteous might” would have found this particular verse of scripture very apropos.
By the way, while it was a fierce and costly fight, the U.S. prevailed in the Battle of Midway. Just as they eventually did in the island hopping campaign, in the overall Pacific Theatre, and ultimately, in World War Two itself!
In light of all this, I leave you with the immortal words of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman: “What, me worry?”
SOURCES:
MIDWAY MOVIE:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074899/;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_(1976_film).
https://clip.cafe/midway-1976/same-thing-are/.
MARK TWAIN QUOTE:
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/10581/some-of-the-worst-things-in-my-life-never-happened;
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/31860-i-ve-lived-through-some-terrible-things-in-my-life-some;
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/201777-i-ve-had-a-lot-of-worries-in-my-life-most.
SCRIPTURES:
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/6.htm;
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/29-11.htm.
FDR’s DAY OF INFAMY SPEECH:
https://www.ushistory.org/documents/infamy.htm.
SEE ALSO:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman.