Facing a pandemic: Lessons from someone who survived prison & war
Today, March 28, Filipinos face 2 pandemics: 1/ The continued scourge of COVID-19, and 2/ The ineptitude and blatant corruption of certain government officials (who I will refrain from naming) in planning a proper response. Both are sicknesses prevalent throughout the country, which is the very definition of a pandemic.
After a supposed ‘1-month’ lockdown declared last March 2020, much of which is still largely in effect today (a whole year later), we are facing a renewed order for a ‘1-week’ lockdown.
In truth, nothing has changed — there had been no clarity of plans, no acknowledgement of failures, and no signs of learning by the people on the highest seats.
We are frozen in time, except that unlike us who are luckier-than-most, many struggle to feed their families, take care of young ones, and pay their rent and bills. We are in an unenviable position compared to the rest of Southeast Asia.
In times like this, I recall the wisdom of James Stockdale, who was the highest-ranking US military officer to become a prisoner during the Vietnam War. He quoted what is now the ‘Stockdale paradox’:
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
— Admiral James Stockdale
Though James Stockdale will not see the pandemic today (he died in 2005), his harrowing experience was just as bad — for 8 years, he had no certainty when or if he would even be released. He had no human rights as a prisoner, no means to connect with friends and loved ones, and he had to endure brutal torture multiple times. Still, he never lost hope.
Years after James Stockdale returned to the US, he was interviewed by Jim Collins for Jim’s book Good to Great. The interviewer asked Stockdale how he felt when he was actually there facing great uncertainty.
Limping with a stiff leg caused by the repeated torture, Stockdale responded with confidence and resolve (Source):
Stockdale: “I never lost faith in the end of the story… I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
Interviewer: “Who didn’t make it out?”
Stockdale: “Oh, that’s easy- The optimists… Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
(After a long pause, he turned to the interviewer and said)
Stockdale: “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
(Interviewer’s mental note: To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”)
Today, we find ourselves in familiar waters — stuck without a happy ending in sight, and we repeatedly ask ourselves ‘when will things be like they were before?’.
It has only been a year for us, but will we find the same courage that Stockdale had? Will we continue to live with hope whether this pandemic lasts 3 years or 8 years, or even more?
But what makes his affirmation unique is that we are also told to face the brutal facts of our reality — we will get to a better place someday, but that doesn’t mean we should only aim to survive.
Rather, we should continue the battle not in spite of, but because of these 2 pandemics that we face. Our cups are mostly full, but when we still have the capacity to help ourselves or someone in need, let us find the means to overcome.
This is not a call for resilience, for we are tired of being branded ‘resilient’ as if that is an excuse to not act with urgency and competence. Rather, this is a call to refuse letting our waking lives be wasted, by all the people and circumstances who either intentionally or unintentionally put us down. We will prevail eventually — it’s only a matter of time. But we must also stay disciplined — to preserve hope and work on the things that still continue to transform our situation.
So, how do we survive 2 Philippine pandemics?
Stockdale’s advice: “Never confuse faith that [we] will prevail in the end with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of [our] current reality, whatever they might be.”
Both are necessary if we are to live through this.
