From a purely psycho-spiritual perspective, General McChrystal did what everybody within his age range would have done at that stage in their lives. In a way, he is everyman! The challenge with African and world psychology is the failure to realize that at certain points in our lives, our psyche changes (the paradigm shift) and we tend to let our guard down. This could be caused by meaninglessness, stagnation and a search for new values.
The question is, given the same opportunity; will General McChrystal have let Micheal Hastings into his inner circle? The answer is an emphatic “yes.” Why? General McChrystal identified with Micheal Hastings because they had something in common. What did they have in common? They both lost their loved ones to the Iraqi war. While Hastings lost Andrea Suzanne Parhamovich (1978 – 2007) his fiancée and the subject of his book “I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story,” General McChrystal lost the love and times shared with his family outside bomb shells and war scenes. Both had lost something and they shared this in common. Hence they were able to identify with each other.
Cast your mind back to when a father you know who had once been ferocious, all of a sudden becomes soft and begins to pamper the last child – the child of old age – or even takes it ‘too cool’ for your liking on the grandchildren. The only explanation is that he has lost the drive for and the meaning of all the authority-assertion that used to be his insignia in the family.
This is simply why great and lasting leaders right from bible times have an inner-circle that acts like a buffer between them and the likes of tabloid journalists, preventing them from wrecking havoc in their lives. Consider the relationships between these men; Paul and Timothy, Moses and Joshua. The roles in these relationships could be divided into 'master' and 'armor bearer'. Spiritually, the 'armor bearer' is supposed to shield the 'master' from such unwanted intrusions into their lives, by being there when needed, covering their backs and filling up the cracks the other party is unaware exist in hos or her life. Other examples are husband - wife, C.E.O - personal assistant relationships and so on.
The food for thought today is: “where were General McChrystal’s Aaron and Hur when this happened, what were they doing?” They failed their 56 year old master when he needed to fill the void created by the war while this young 30 year old lad who had the same experience of loss came on board to satisfy his quest for relevance which the government of the day was not providing.
It is also important to note that General McChrystal was Hastings' age (30 Years) in 1984 and was already a Captain. Twenty four years down the line, having reached the peak of his career, he realized that it was not really worth the effort. He could not understand why a younger man, Barrack Obama (former university professor), Richard Holbrooke (a diplomat), Joe Biden (who received 5 students draft deferment and could not even enlist for Vietnam War) and others would see his views about more troops in Iraq as unacceptable. As a result, he went into psychological stagnation and despair.
Erick Erickson, - the prominent developmental psychologist - called this stage of the average man's life, the stage of Generativity vs. Stagnation (age 35 - 65) in his popular book; 'Psychosocial Stages of Life'. This is the stage where the dreaded 'mid-life crisis' occurs. The individual here tries to measure accomplishments and failures and asks: ''Am I satisfied or not?'' ''Will I produce something of real value?'' Here, – this point is important, don’t miss it – there is a need to assist the younger generation, to do something not only generally perceived as moving, but actually does move the younger generation forward. Something that prepares them for that stage in their lives and makes them capable of rising to the challenges that come with that period of their lives. Once the individual fails to find the 'markers' that add value to those years he or she has spent on earth except for the proverbial ‘four stars' on the shoulder as in the case of General McChrystal, a sense of stagnation which is the feeling of not having done anything to help the next generation sets in. In order to fill the void, guards are let down; walls of partition are brought down and people like Hastings come in for good or bad. We shall be reading of the other reasons from his perspective when his memoir comes out.
The question is, given the same opportunity; will General McChrystal have let Micheal Hastings into his inner circle? The answer is an emphatic “yes.” Why? General McChrystal identified with Micheal Hastings because they had something in common. What did they have in common? They both lost their loved ones to the Iraqi war. While Hastings lost Andrea Suzanne Parhamovich (1978 – 2007) his fiancée and the subject of his book “I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story,” General McChrystal lost the love and times shared with his family outside bomb shells and war scenes. Both had lost something and they shared this in common. Hence they were able to identify with each other.
Cast your mind back to when a father you know who had once been ferocious, all of a sudden becomes soft and begins to pamper the last child – the child of old age – or even takes it ‘too cool’ for your liking on the grandchildren. The only explanation is that he has lost the drive for and the meaning of all the authority-assertion that used to be his insignia in the family.
This is simply why great and lasting leaders right from bible times have an inner-circle that acts like a buffer between them and the likes of tabloid journalists, preventing them from wrecking havoc in their lives. Consider the relationships between these men; Paul and Timothy, Moses and Joshua. The roles in these relationships could be divided into 'master' and 'armor bearer'. Spiritually, the 'armor bearer' is supposed to shield the 'master' from such unwanted intrusions into their lives, by being there when needed, covering their backs and filling up the cracks the other party is unaware exist in hos or her life. Other examples are husband - wife, C.E.O - personal assistant relationships and so on.
The food for thought today is: “where were General McChrystal’s Aaron and Hur when this happened, what were they doing?” They failed their 56 year old master when he needed to fill the void created by the war while this young 30 year old lad who had the same experience of loss came on board to satisfy his quest for relevance which the government of the day was not providing.
It is also important to note that General McChrystal was Hastings' age (30 Years) in 1984 and was already a Captain. Twenty four years down the line, having reached the peak of his career, he realized that it was not really worth the effort. He could not understand why a younger man, Barrack Obama (former university professor), Richard Holbrooke (a diplomat), Joe Biden (who received 5 students draft deferment and could not even enlist for Vietnam War) and others would see his views about more troops in Iraq as unacceptable. As a result, he went into psychological stagnation and despair.
Erick Erickson, - the prominent developmental psychologist - called this stage of the average man's life, the stage of Generativity vs. Stagnation (age 35 - 65) in his popular book; 'Psychosocial Stages of Life'. This is the stage where the dreaded 'mid-life crisis' occurs. The individual here tries to measure accomplishments and failures and asks: ''Am I satisfied or not?'' ''Will I produce something of real value?'' Here, – this point is important, don’t miss it – there is a need to assist the younger generation, to do something not only generally perceived as moving, but actually does move the younger generation forward. Something that prepares them for that stage in their lives and makes them capable of rising to the challenges that come with that period of their lives. Once the individual fails to find the 'markers' that add value to those years he or she has spent on earth except for the proverbial ‘four stars' on the shoulder as in the case of General McChrystal, a sense of stagnation which is the feeling of not having done anything to help the next generation sets in. In order to fill the void, guards are let down; walls of partition are brought down and people like Hastings come in for good or bad. We shall be reading of the other reasons from his perspective when his memoir comes out.
culled - God's portion
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