Hawkeye: “You never hear the bullet.” Is that a book?
Tommy: Yeah, it’s about the war. And it’s being written by a soldier, not a
correspondent.
How can I explain it to you? Ok, there’s always that big blond kid in all
those war movies. The one that should never die but always does.
Hawkeye: Yeah, and they bring him back to
life in the next movie.
Tommy: Right. You always hear this big, loud ricochet just
before he gets killed. Well, that’s not
the way it really happens. There was a
young blonde kid in our outfit. One day
I looked over and half of him was gone.
And you know what he said? He
said, “I never heard no bullet.” That’s
why that book is called what it’s called.
Hawkeye’s friend
Tommy makes a surprise visit to the 4077 and shares his idea about a book he is
writing based on his experience in combat. Later, he returns to camp injured and rethinks
the title of his book, because unlike his original title, he heard the bullet that hit him coming.
One of the harsh
realities of leadership is that leaders come under fire from those they lead,
and often don’t hear or see it coming!
This is most painful when it comes from people you have invested
enormous amounts of time and energy into their personal and professional
lives. I find it easier to deal with
when I see it coming, as I understand that conflict is an unavoidable part of
leadership. But it is the unsuspecting attacks from unsuspecting people that
has the biggest impact on me. I have
learnt that to guard my heart against friendly fire I need to depersonalise the
attack and remember that hurting people hurt people. It is rarely about me, and when it is I need to
have the humility to deal with my part in the issue. When it is not, I need to have enough empathy
to look beyond the attack and respond to the cause of the pain driving the
behaviour.
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