Most of you who are following this blog know by now that I am a U.S. Marine. It is a part of who I am, and as time goes on I am learning more and more that my enlistment in the Marine Corps was not a mistake, and that there were some definite reasons it happened. There is a reason I had no desire to continue education at a college or university, but instead found a strong desire – perhaps stronger than reason – to enlist in the elite and awesome fighting force of our great nation. (Hey, it's the few, the proud – humility isn't an option when you are a Marine!)
As I began my first day of basic training at MCRD Parris Island, I was introduced to the man who would become to me the epitome of what a United States Marine was. His name was Staff Sergeant Fowler, he was the Senior Drill Instructor of my platoon and he was also a Scout Sniper. He was perhaps the most intense and disciplined man I have ever met. His stare was possibly enough to kill a man.
In the Marine Corps, and also in life, I've learned that there are different kinds of people, and they often fall into a couple broad categories. Every Marine is a rifleman, but not every Marine is a sniper, and not every Marine is a machine-gunner. After I completed my tour of duty with the Marines, I met a Marine Corps officer who likened me to a sniper. He wasn't talking about bullets however, but words. On the subject of speaking, there are only a couple different kinds of people. You have your machine-gunners. These are people that talk and talk and talk, and then they talk some more! Typically, after a conversation, you might remember 1-5% of what they actually said. So, you could say their words are effective, but it's hard to say which ones actually hit the target! Then, you have your snipers. These people don't talk much (or perhaps they just shouldn't talk much!) but when they do talk, their words carry weight and make an impact. You could say there are variations of these, and then people who fall somewhere in between, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll leave it at that.
I am becoming more and more convinced that when it comes to speaking, I am a sniper. This is actually contrary to the ways I have been trained, as most of the people who have encouraged me to speak have either challenged me to speak for nearly an hour at a time, or to deliver a pre-packaged message and apply this same message, in the same way to every person I meet. I have found both these methods exhausting and frustrating, not to say they are completely ineffective, but it seems they were more effective in wearing me out than communicating effectively what I was trying to say.
Now, a sniper has several prominent qualities that enable them to accomplish their mission effectively. For one, they are incredibly patient. They are trained to wait. Another one is that their powers of observation are finely tuned. They are trained to watch. They also listen well, they are very sensitive to and aware of the situation around them. They are also experts at navigation. Finally, they are able to make split-second judgements and act in an effective and powerful manner to strike at their target, all while remaining personally concealed. So their art is both offensive and defensive.
Translate this to verbal communication. It seems in our society, in my experience, a lot of people are saying a whole lot of things all at once, and it's just plain noisy! I'm confused listening to it all! Is it possible to speak in a way that not only makes sense, but in a way that is precisely what someone needs to hear? Bullets bring death, and so can words. But words can also bring life! Are there things that people need to understand, thoughts that can be communicated that can strike a person's mind in such a way as to effect an immediate change for good?
You could prescribe a general phrase and apply it to everyone, such as "God loves you." This is true, but is it necessarily effective? Could it be possible that this phrase can be spoken in a custom-tailored way that will speak life to a specific person in a specific situation? When Jesus spoke to people, he never said the same thing to one person and then another, it was always incredibly personal.
There are so many things I've heard lately that have guided me into this train of thought, from the idea that prayer isn't a one-way conversation, but an opportunity to listen to what God is saying to us. The crazy idea that God still speaks, and His words still cut like a sword – powerfully! And then there was that conversation with Ryan Otto about the Hog's tooth, which is the name given to the 7.62mm round presented to a Marine when they graduate from Scout Sniper school.
Anyway, these are my thoughts today. I'm glad that I'm about to have an opportunity to step away from the noise for a little while, to actually listen and maybe let things like wind and birdsongs inform my thinking rather than politics and the latest international crisis. I believe there is an art to speaking (and thinking, writing too for that matter!), and I'm starting on a journey to discover just how true these things are, to hopefully continue the discipline of living as a "spiritual sniper."
