The Art Of Influence
When you consider the course American culture has taken in the last four to five years, writing about how we have been influenced over the epoch of our own lives, no matter its length, is now more important than ever. I know it does not strictly apply to American culture. Almost every element of human society has changed, dramatically in some cases, due to governmental unrest, misinformation, and the COVID19 pandemic. This post will focus primarily on one aspect of my life, which influenced me so profoundly, it took years to unravel it all. No, I am not going to use a ball of yarn type metaphor to close out my introductory paragraph.
A customary habit of most people is a propensity to focus on the negative; perceived injustices whose manifestations are typically self-induced. In my own experiences, when I do not achieve the outcome, I thought I should have, a victim complex will manifest. When my mind begins down this path, I often refer to it as the soap box syndrome.
I encountered it when The Cradle of Destiny was published, and I received lackluster quarterly sales. Rather than focusing on the opportunity I had been given and what I needed to learn to ensure better outcomes in the future, I picked apart the system of publishing and marketing. It was easier to assign blame to individual pieces of the entire publishing process and certainly much harder to point my own fine-tuned perception inward.
This is not to say vast improvements are not needed in content creation; merely, you become more of the problem, if you are unwilling to recognize your own part in it. This is where the art of self-reflection comes in handy because you will soon recognize how unique life experiences have influenced your perceptions, often not for the better. This will permeate and contaminant all undertakings unless a willingness to let go is cultivated.
One of the most prolific influences in my life stemmed from the nine years I spent in the military, specifically the Air Force in the Security Police career field. The cisgender white male, composed of homophobia and misogyny with a dash of narcissism was alive and well. Dare I say it thrived, mostly due to feckless leadership who benefited from such behavior.
What I just described manifested in the Air Force proper, while the environment in the Security Police career field was much more toxic. There was no cohesion built on the concepts of trusting your fellow Airman, which was a term at the time comprising both dominant genders. I served from 1985 to 1994, so do not expect proper and equal representation when reading this post. I will be accurately reflecting the mindset at the time. Even as I write these words, I struggle to convey said views of the time due to how morally repugnant I find them.
You see, what the expertly crafted and well-manicured recruitment advertisements failed to mention, while imploring parents to freely send their children to be maimed or killed in some illegal, offensive war is those who join are simply blunt instruments; tools and resources to be consumed, then ignored when their usefulness is no longer needed. In tandem, if you did not fit the mold of what some high-ranking official who shined a seat with their ass at the Pentagon thought you should be, a glorious one-way ticket back home with a dishonorable discharge would soon be coming your way.
I served before and during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, which was one of the dumbest concepts in a continually growing list of brain-dead policies. I would like to thank the Clinton administration for making the gay witch hunts even worse, which served no constructive purpose except to hurt the United States military by discharging many in its ranks who served in critical and hard to recruit for positions, such as language translation. Expecting someone to keep their sexuality to themselves is akin to not expecting a dog to urinate on the first thing they see when you take them for a walk. Not the best analogy but you get the point.
Although the career field I served was split in to two different Air Force specialty codes (AFSCs), the hyper masculine and chest thumping, hear me roar personas were consistent across the board.
As a Security Specialist, I was trained in tactics and air base ground defense just like the Army, while the Law Enforcement Specialist received training very similar to civilian police officers. Wanting a rounded approach to the entire career field, I took the Law Enforcement Specialist skill level test and achieved a dual AFSC. This helped when I took my Criminal Justice classes while attending the European Division of the University of Maryland when I was stationed in Germany.
The military accepted my existence if I kept my orientation hidden in a tightly bound shoe box, stuffed conveniently behind a perceived heterosexual stone wall. One of the four most important elements of wearing the uniform was upholding the military image. It was/is a concept grilled into everyone who serves and often found in the form of a question during most promotional tests for your next rank. Heaven forbids you be given the same rights as your heterosexual counterparts to express your authenticate self because, well, it did not fit the proper image those in power deemed appropriate.
Fully encapsulating the entire nine-year experience would be a book in of itself. I would be marginalizing it further if I merely reduced it to being strictly contextual; hence, the entire purpose of writing this post. It is one of many life experiences, serving to either enrich it or prevent true potential from blossoming. There is subtly in its design with an assassin’s precision if you do not practice mindfulness.
Being fair and balanced are necessary elements as well. Although my military experience was less than ideal to say the least, I would be remiss if I did not mention its positive effects, which may appear an odd statement based on what has been said up to this point. There is always something to be learned from experiences we would prefer to forget. Stuffing difficult and traumatic life events into a box serves no constructive purpose, although it makes sense at the time. In the end, the box is still there and what is waiting for you when it is opened, is often much worse.
As I have gotten older, reading, and practicing Zen has helped me understand how my own mind functions and where my suffering truly derives. In his book, Understanding Our Mind, Vietnamese Thien Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hahn walks us through Buddhist psychology with insights into how ancient Buddhist teachings apply to the modern world.
What spoke to me is how the mind is like a field, where you can plant seeds of love and compassion or seeds of hate, jealousy, and anger. The more you water a particular seed through your perceptions and actions, the more it will grow. If you choose to water love over hate, the latter will eventually wither and die. It does not truly go away, so continuing to walk down the path of mindfulness is crucial.
You may be wondering; how does this affect my writing? The answer is simple; it affects everything. This should not come as a surprise for those who have been reading this blog for some time. I have spoken to how our mindset influences our content creation in one way or the other. What I am speaking to now is the foundation from where everything you perceive springs forth. Solidifying it will influence your approach to story building, character creation, conflict resolution, and the overall message your characters will convey to the reader.
In closing, I want to make it clear, my military experience is my own to convey. There are plenty of other stories from fellow veterans whose experiences were quite positive. My observations in this blog post where certainly not inclusive of everyone else who served; however, I believe in highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly. In my opinion, if you love something, like I do my country and fellow military personnel, you bring to light its failings because you want it to be better. This has been and always shall be my intent.
Feel free to post your questions or comments. I will respond, if need be, when I am able. Thank you for reading.
Resources:
Thich Nhat Hanh: https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/
Understanding Our Mind: https://www.parallax.org/product/understanding-our-mind-50-verses-on-buddhist-psychology/
