PERSEVERANCE

IS DOING WHAT YOU KNOW TO DO... DOING WHAT MUST BE DONE... OR DOING WHAT YOU
HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO... AND DOING IT TO THE VERY BEST OF YOUR ABILITY...
NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE IS... OR IS NOT DOING!
Perseverance is what makes
peace keeping and peace making work. No other one thing in the formula for success
is more important than perseverance... keep on keeping on!!! It means to keep
up the effort to overcome adversity and evil. It means to try all that you know
at the moment and to pray and seek for the needed knowledge that you do not
have so that the objective of peace can be achieved or restored... no matter
where the location of your field of battle at the moment of effort. It means
making the effort to overcome the evil that threatens peace and safety with
all of the ability that you have within you and to use all of the resources
at your disposal to stop the threat and preserve peace and safety... That was
the gist of the oath that you took or the statement that you made just by accepting
the position and the responsibility that goes with the job you were appointed
to achieve. In the week just past , two more Virginia Law Enforcement officers
and a hospital security guard were shot by a desperate felon. One officer is
dead... one officer critically injured... the security guard is dead. They did
not set out on their duty of those two days to be injured and killed... they
just went out to preserve and keep the peace. PoliceOne.com reports 12 officers
deaths in the month of August. Some people in this world just absolutely do
not want peace or safety for others if it interferes with what they want. Since
7/21/06 , 61 deaths of our Peace Keepers have taken place in Iraq. Some desperate
people and some fanatics, for their causes, will do whatever it takes to take
you out of their way so that their ideas may flourish. We must be better prepared
than they... for usually they are living in a condition of preparation of mind
and body that keeps them prepared to do all that it takes to overcome you and
remove you from hindering them in their pursuits... In most cases these desperate
people will not care what it costs you when they attack you and/or anyone else.
It makes no difference if we are talking about the homeland... or if we are
talking about foreign battlefields. It makes no difference if we call them Insurgency
or fanatics. It makes no difference whether we understand their motivation or
not. It makes no difference if they use weapons, bombs, hands or feet. The one
idea we must inculcate - burn indelibly - into our consciousness is that we
must prepare for this kind of onslaught and stay prepared. The preservation
life, health and peace demands that we must be prepared and stay prepared...
that we must be ready and willing to take whatever action that is necessary
to stop these perpetrators of evil wherever they raise their ideas and their
heads... that we must be prepared and willing to use whatever force necessary
to stop the evil they wish to disseminate even if it means that we must kill
them and/or be killed ourselves in the process. Most Peace Keepers do not comprehend
the strength and power of the commitment these people have developed within
themselves. It also has been my experience that too many Peace Keepers do not
have that same persevering depth of power and commitment that is so powerfully
ingrained in the Insurgent or the fanatic. If we do not have a more powerful
commitment than they...
THEN WE MUST DEVELOP IT... FOR ONE DAY SOMEWHERE WE
WILL BE FACED WITH A FIGHT THAT COULD TO THE DEATH.. AND WE WILL HAVE TO HANDLE
IT!!! I learned that in the early days of my career by having to handle as many
as three counties alone. No one else was available to help me. The spirit that
motivated the passengers on flight 93 over Pennsylvania on 9/11/01 is the kind
of spirit that should motivate all us every moment of every day. They knew they
would die in the process.. but they were determined that no one else except
those on that plane would die at the hands of those perpetrators on board the
flight. What is this spirit that motivates to this degree? It is all of the
meanings of perseverance with which I started this message... and putting that
spirit of perseverance into action whenever the peace and safety of this nation
or innocent people are threatened. It is the soul... and it is the essence of
peace keeping. That, my dear Peace Keepers, is what we are all about... and
we must have it so ingrained within us that we will do what needs to be done
even if no one else will do it or help us do it. It also means making... and
keeping commitments. I still carry a copy of the last oath that I took when
I raised my hand and said, "I will..." and I still would if anyone would let
me. I still do all I can as a proactive street chaplain walking our resort strip
with my police department with the attitude of working within the operating
rules to serve, protect and defend citizens and police officers... and I will
still do whatever the situation demands even if no one else will do it. If I
were wherever you are that would be my commitment to you also. Today I chafe
at not being able to be there and doing what I have always done to do my duty
in performing my commitments. Today, and most of this month, I have had to stay
home and care for an adult child because she has no one else who can or will
care for her in her current health dilemma. The great demands upon me for her
sap my strength sometimes until there is no strength left. I rest and care for
my well being until I am restored and continue on with doing what I know to
do and learning whatever else that I need to know. Life is arbitrary. Life is
what happens to you while you are making plans. Life is that thing that is happening
at the moment which demands immediate attention and action... Life is doing
what needs to be done at the moment, that you are capable of doing... learning
anything and everything else that can be learned and applied in the situation...
and seeking the assistance of others when you are not capable to handle the
situation alone. That definition is very much like my definition of faith...
Faith is doing the best you can with what you have where you are and leaving
the rest to God or whomever else is responsible. My daughter is home from the
fourth hospital stay since June 21. She is doing much better but must have someone
with her all of the time until her next evaluation next week. Hopefully I will
be able to get back to duty by the holiday weekend. As always... "BE CAREFUL
OUT THERE!" Do all that you can to take care of you while you are caring for
others. You must do this in order to be successful and survive to continue your
career. It is imperative that you have a very strong spiritual well being.,
also, in order for you to persevere, survive and be successful. As it has always
been... So it still is... "VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST... AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST... AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu ONLY
LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!! THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE
THEIR ETERNAL PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY! WITH
THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT... BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE... [My injunction to be safe means doing all you know
to do as you do your job... it means doing the best you can with what you have
where you are using all your faculties to get the job done well and with good
results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace... it does not mean to
avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything to hinder
you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that
if the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in
the process. That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and
leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible... being best employed
for the sake and protection of all the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for... and give the credit to: God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and the Holy Spirit of
God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide). In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
D. R. (Don) Staton,
Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer,
Certified Police Instructor,
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net 3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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Copyright: CHAPLAIN CORNER (DRS) 2006.
All rights reserved. May not be duplicated without permission, except to be forwarded with copyright and all source information for any quotation intact. To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace
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