Vital Lessons
Maj. Robert Moore was second-in-command of 2nd Battalion, 168th Infantry, landing near Algiers during Operation Torch. He came ashore eight miles from his assigned beach to find his troops scattered and disorganized. Although resistance from French forces was sporadic, his unit took casualties in their advance. The first time he came under fire, he ducked for cover and then looked up cautiously to try to see what was ahead. He suddenly found himself on his back, stunned and confused. A soldier beside him was bleeding. Taking off his helmet he found a deep black groove cut across the side of it. An inch lower and the war would have been over for him.
In these first hours of the war, Moore learned some vital lessons:
Some lessons were fundamental: stay low; take a few extra moments to study the map before setting off. But others involved the nature of combat and leadership: a realization that battlefields were inherently chaotic; that improvisation was a necessary virtue; that speed and stealth and firepower won small skirmishes as well as big battles; that every moment held risk and every man was mortal.133
Some people have a distinct spiritual advantage in life. Firemen, doctors, soldiers, and others close to life-and-death situations are never able to overlook the fact that they are indeed mortal. When someone faces frequent danger or sees the results of others doing so, they know how fragile life is. The poet who wrote, “Death hath a thousand doors to let out life,”134 seemed to understand this reality as well. For those of us leading more tranquil lives, we need constant reminders of our mortality to help focus our attention on matters of eternal significance.
You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
—Hebrews 10:34