Thursday, January 12, 2012

You must be willing to speak out.

The deepest joy in life is to be creative. To find an undeveloped situation, to see the possibilities, to decide upon a course of action, and then devote the whole of one's resources to carrying it out, even if it means battling against the stream of contemporary opinion, is a satisfaction in comparison with which superficial pleasures are trivial. But to create, you must care. 

You must be willing to speak out.

Admiral H. Rickover

And I would add, you must be willing to write.  You must be willing to own your opinion, to state it and to claim it as your own.

2 comments:

Jim Murphy said...

Great advice...from both Rickover and Lambert.

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

Few that prescribe to this post actually knew this Admiral, but his reputation will no doubt live longer than he did on this earth, his words, teachings and mystique will extend as far as we non-nucs and nucs alike remember the deeds he performed in his ambitions to achieve goals that were his and his alone, very few individuals even had any idea what he was talking about.
He did not say during his tenure, as far as I can recall, that he would listen to anyone that had an opinion that differed from his. His leadership brought about the nuclear Navy we know today and that is one of the highest accomplishments, in my opinion, that man has ever achieved.

I would however like to have my foul weather jacket back, which he asked for when he came aboard the USS Tecumseh (SSBN 628) for an ORSE (use that in your search line for clarification), he said the Sailors would pay more attention to him with COB 628 stenciled on the back, he never returned that foul weather jacket to me and I did not register any complaint at the time. The admiral was chastised by congress for accepting baubles and I hope that was not considered one of those baubles. In spite of all his achievements, he still was unable to care for his personal needs at times without asking of others or maybe he just liked being catered to. He only served in the Navy for 63 years, and gave the Navy, and our Country, a great deal more than he ever received from them.

Very Respectfully,
Navyman834