I know most of you would agree with me that after 7 months of 2020 we want a “do-over”! Along with death and destruction from the virus and civil unrest, I add another D, disappointment…
I had two seniors this year, one high school grad and one college grad. And I know that parents everywhere were crushed to see kids not have the typical closure to this season of life along with the celebrations that accompany huge accomplishments. I would have to say though, that for the most part, the Class of 2020 handled this much better than their disappointed parents. I personally had been looking forward to these two graduations for over a year and cried bitter tears for these two amazing young people.
However, I am here to tell you that the Class of 2020 is not only strong but resilient, and our future is in some pretty capable hands.
First up, Mr. Steven Caleb Gilbert, Caleb graduated from Kennesaw State University with his degree in Electrical Engineering. Caleb was scheduled to give the commencement address at his canceled graduation ceremony. His speech touched me deeply and is just the kind of speech we need right now in America. Caleb gave me permission to share his speech here because he believes that it holds weight and meaning in everyone’s life.
So without further ado, my guest blogger, Steven Caleb Gilbert, and his commencement address, INNER CITADEL.
“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” – Proverbs 24:10
By age 12, Theodore Roosevelt had spent almost every day of his short life struggling with horrible asthma. Despite his privileged birth, his life hung in a precarious balance. The attacks were almost a nightly near-death experience. Tall, gangling, and frail, the slightest exertion would upset the entire balance and leave him bed riddance for weeks. One day his father came into his room and delivered his message that would change the young boys’ life.
“Theodore you have the mind but haven’t got the body. I’m giving you the tools to make your body. It’s going to be hard drudgery, but I think you have the determination to go through with it.”
You’d think that this would be lost on a child, especially one born into great wealth and status, but according to Roosevelt’s youngest sister who witnessed the conversation, it wasn’t. His response, using one that would become his trademark cheerful grit, was to look at his father and say with determination, “I’ll make my body”.
At the gym that his father built on the second-floor porch, young Roosevelt proceeded to work out feverishly every day for the next five years. Slowly building muscle and strengthening his upper body against his weak lungs and for the future. By his early twenties, the battle against asthma was essentially over. He’d worked, almost literally, that weakness out of his body. That gym work prepared a physically weak but smart young boy for the uniquely challenging course on with the nation and the world were about to embark. It was the beginning of his preparation for the fulfillment of what he would call “The Strenuous Life”.
And for Roosevelt, life threw a lot at him. He lost his wife and his mother at rapid succession. He faced powerful entrenched political enemies who despised his progressive agenda. Was dealt defeat at the ballot box, the nation was embroiled in foreign wars and survived near-fatal assassination attempts. But he was equipped for all of it because of his early training and because he kept at it every single day.
Are you similarly prepared? Could you actually handle yourself if things suddenly got worse?
We take weakness for granted. We assume the way we’re born is the way we are. That our disadvantages are permanent, and then we atrophy from there. That’s not necessarily the best recipe for the difficulties of life.
Not everyone accepts their bad start. They remake their body and their lives with activities and exercise. They prepare themselves for the hard road. Do they hope that they never have to walk it? Sure. But they’re prepared for it in any case. Are you?
Nobody is born with a steel backbone we have to forge it ourselves. We craft our spiritual strength through physical exercise and our physical hardiness through mental practice.
“Mensana In Corpore San” – a sound mind in a strong body.
This approach goes back to the ancient philosophers. Every bit of the philosophy they developed was intended to reshape, prepare, and fortify themselves for the challenges to come. Many saw themselves as mental athletes. After all, the brain is a muscle like any other active tissue. It can be built up and toned through the right exercise. Over time their muscle memory grew to the point where they could intuitively respond to any situation. Especially obstacles.
It is said of the Jews, deprived of a stable homeland for so long. Their temples destroyed and their communities in the diaspora. They were forced to rebuild not physically but in their minds. The temple became a metaphysical one. Located independently in the mind of every believer. Each one, wherever they had been dispersed around the world, whatever persecution they faced, could draw upon it for strength and security. Consider the line from the Haggadah,
“In every generation, a person is obligated to view himself as if he is the one who went out of Egypt.”
During Passover Seder, the menu is bitter herbs and unleavened bread, the bread of affliction. Why? In some way, this taps into the fortitude that sustains the community for generations. The ritual not only celebrates and honors Jewish traditions, but it prompts those partaking in the feast to visualize and possess the strength that has kept them going.
This is strikingly similar to what the Stoics called The Inner Citadel. That fortress inside of us that no external adversity can ever break down. An important caveat is that we are not born with such a structure, it must be built and actively reinforced. During the good times, we can strengthen ourselves and our bodies so that during the difficult times we can depend on it. We protect our inner fortress so that it may protect us.
To Roosevelt, life was like an arena and he was a gladiator. In order to survive, he needed to be strong, resilient, fearless, and ready for anything. He was willing to risk great personal harm and expend a great amount of energy to develop that hardiness.
“You’ll have far better luck toughening yourself up than you ever will taking the teeth out of a world that is at best, indifferent to your existence…” – Ryan Holiday
Whether we are born weak like Roosevelt or currently experiencing good times, we should always prepare for things to get tough. In our own way, in our own fight, we are all in the same position Roosevelt was in. No one is born a gladiator, no one was born with an Inner Citadel. If we are going to succeed at achieving our goals despite the obstacles that may come, this strength and will must be built. To be great at something takes practice, obstacles and adversity are no different. Though it would be easier to sit back and enjoy a cushy modern life, the upside of preparation is that we are not disposed to lose all of it, least of all our heads, when something or someone suddenly messes with our plans.
It’s almost a cliché at this point but the observation that the way to strengthen an arch is to put weight on it because it binds the stones together and only with tension does it hold weight, is a great metaphor. The path of least resistance is a terrible teacher. We cannot afford to shy away from the things that intimidate us. We don’t need to take our weakness for granted.
Are you okay with being alone? Are you strong enough to go a few more rounds if it comes to that? Are you comfortable with challenges? Does uncertainty bother you? How does pressure feel?
Because these are things that WILL happen to you. No one knows when or how but their appearance is certain, and life will demand an answer. You chose this for yourself, a life of doing things. Now you better be prepared for what it entails. It’s your armor plating. Much like this degree, it doesn’t make you invincible, but it helps prepare you for when fortune shifts. And it always does…
Do not wait for the world to give you permission, because it will never come. Live life and love ferociously, and never go silently into the night.
Congratulations, class of 2020. We have been given the responsibility to inch knowledge further for the many generations to come after us. I know we will all accomplish spectacular things with the knowledge we learned here. Be safe and remember, never stop fortifying your Inner Citadel.
WOW, thank you Caleb, for sharing this with us, it’s a remarkable and inspiring piece of work!
