A Sailor needs to be "about something"

A Sailor needs to be “about something” at his or her core and feel deeply why some things are worthwhile and others are worth everything. Whether a Sailor resolves this well or poorly, rightly or wrongly, the effort is crucial to being fully human.

It is especially important in the case of Sailors as well as others for whom honor is quintessential. Conscience, duty, orders, leadership, professionalism, loyalty, courage, and judgment—and their evil opposite qualities—all derive from the inner development of a person.

This progress may be advanced in silence and solitude, through reflection, or amidst a profusion of difficult, even stressful activities. But, it must be advanced; there must be progress. There must be growth.

From writings on the foundation of moral obligation
- William G. O'Neill