EMERGENCY ACTION PLANNING > Blog > Leadership > Don’t Believe Anything You Hear And Only Half Of What You See
Don’t Believe Anything You Hear And Only Half Of What You See
20220420 Don’t Believe Anything You Hear And Only Half Of What You See
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/believe
Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.
That statement was told to me in the fall of 1972 by a Senior Non-commissioned Officer in the United States Army. I had recently finished basic training and was posted to my first duty station in the 101st Airborne, I and other young soldiers were about to embark on an on-the-job training adventure as a U.S. Army Infantryman.
Vietnam was still going on. But it was still three years until the US would be out of there. Thousands of young soldiers were pouring into the 101st Airborne to replenish its losses, and our anticipation or expectation was that we would be returning to Vietnam.
But that did not happen. We were being trained to fight a nuclear, chemical, and biological war against the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.
My posting in the 101st Airborne was in a Battalion Recon Platoon. Our job was to move forward of the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA), conduct tactical intelligence surveillance, and get the information back to our command.
As a young Recon Scout, it became very apparent that anything I said or did, could adversely affect the lives of up to 30,000 people behind me. It was vital to know, that what I was saying was true, because the people listening to my words would believe it to be so and act on it.
Don’t Believe Anything You Hear And Only Half Of What You See
Today almost 50 years later, that statement is more accurate than ever.
Don’t Believe Anything You Hear And Only Half Of What You See
Today we live in a world emboldened by outright liars, misinformation mongers, politicians, media personalities, and marketers who will set our emotions on fire so they can profit from it.
These messages are being integrated into us through emotion. I will say that again, most of us believe what we believe because of emotion. Not the facts.
Today the American people and the people of the world are vastly divided. Why?
Because we believe we know better than they do
“Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them. – Peter Ustinov”
Now I can, and I will agree that the facts can cause emotional feelings; I do not dispute that. And it’s very good to have those emotions, but when we live in the emotion and do not seek the facts and the truth of what we believe, we are perpetrating the misinformation and the lies that were told to us for someone else to profit by.
If we were to take a moment and look at our recent history. We can objectively see that some of the gravest injustices done by people are because of emotion. Not because of the truth or the facts.
Censorship battles’ new frontier: Your public library https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/17/public-libraries-books-censorship/
“People who are divided are easier to control. – David Draiman”
Now I know most of you are very aware of my passion for protecting our children from the emergencies and disasters that will come into their lives. And this is based on emotion, and with that knowledge, I know that I cannot affect a change. I cannot help anybody if I remain an emotional being who wants to help children.
For us to be effective, we need to have a plan. We need to remove the emotion from the equation.
Learn to seek the truth of what can be done, how it can be done, what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done.
Our plans should be based on facts and truth. There is no emotion involved there, though sometimes emotion will pop up. I will enjoy it at the moment, and then I will get back to the brain and follow the plan. The brain is smart the heart is stupid.
Additional Information:
EAP Resources: https://www.emergencyactionplanning.com/resources/
Are You Ready? Guide. An in-depth guide to citizen preparedness. Available in several languages: https://www.ready.gov/collection/are-you-ready
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Till next time
“Be Safe”
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