by Eddy Parham, SPHR

Ever wonder why you go through the things that you do? You know the tasks that you’d really rather not be assigned, the teams that you’d really rather not be on, the “growth opportunities” that your boss assigns you. Or maybe you must deal with employees who whine about how the tasks that they are assigned aren't fair, aren't glamerous, et cetera. I think that no matter what task you find assigned to you or on what team you are playing with, those assignments that you don’t want can be used to prepare you for things yet to come – if you approach it with the right attitude.

I’m reminded of the story of Alvin York who most probably remember as Sgt. York of WWI fame. What most probably either don’t remember or didn’t learn from their history class is the fact that at the time of WWI, York was a pacifist. So how does a pacifist become a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and then do something great for mankind with his new found fame? Glad you asked. In order to fully appreciate this post, a bit of a history lesson is in order – I’m quite certain that most history lessons omit a discussion of York and his contributions to mankind.

York was born in Tennessee in 1887. He was the third of eleven children and when his father died in 1911 he helped his mother raise his younger siblings. He was an experienced small game hunter having to help feed the family. With this came his ability a rifleman. Alvin’s formal educational experience was a total of 9 months. He worked both in railroad construction and the timber industry and was known for his drinking and fighting abilities and in fact was arrested several times. Despite the violence associated with his drinking, he attended church with his mother who was a member of a Christian denomination that opposed violence. He converted to Christianity in 1914 and held to the denominations opposition to violence belief. He was drafted into the Army in 1917.

The battle that York is best known for and the one that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor occurred along the Decauville rail-line in France. York was with a group of 17 soldiers sent behind German lines to take out machine gun nests. The group captured a large number of Germans and as they were dealing with their prisoners, German machine guns opened up on the group killing over half of the US soldiers. York was now the ranking soldier and as his 6 remaining men dealt with the prisoners, he worked his way toward the machine guns. When all was said and done, York had not only silenced the German guns but also taken 128 additional prisoners. His skills as a sharpshooter, learned from hunting small game, allowed him to kill the Germans who were firing the machine guns on his group. I should note that prior to this battle, York had reconciled his inner feelings and pacifist beliefs.

Interestingly, his story doesn’t stop here. He went on to found the York Agricultural Institute to provide educational opportunities and vocational training to people in his part of Tennessee. The school is still in existence today. York had the ability to raise the needed funds for the school because of his notoriety as a war hero.

Now for the point I was about to make in the beginning – often times we don’t understand why we are in the situation we are in. Some of the time it is our own doing and at other times we are there not of our own choosing but the choosing of someone else, or it may just be the way things work out; however, one thing is for sure – if you make the most of the situation that you find yourself in you might just develop skills that will propel you into greatness.