Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Dunkirk


In light of the global coronavirus pandemic, I recommend watching Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017), which portrays the evacuation of over 330,000 British and French Allied troops from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, in 1940 during World War II.

Overall, before the evacuation, the Germans kicked the crap out of the British, French, and Belgian troops; it was “a colossal military disaster” for the British. But fortunately, over 330,000 Allied troops evacuated from Dunkirk, lived to fight another day, and ultimately prevailed against the Nazis in World War II.

In life, sometimes you get your ass kicked. Sometimes you get absolutely hammered and crushed. Sometimes you suffer a colossal defeat or disaster.

Currently, the US is getting hammered and crushed by the coronavirus. Currently, we are experiencing a colossal defeat or disaster: over 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases; over 90,000 deaths; a severe economic recession; and an extremely incompetent, deranged, nihilistic president who takes responsibility for nothing.

But we shall overcome. We will get through this. We will live to fight another day.

The sky is always darkest before dawn.

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SPOILER: Here is the film’s ending, and here is the relevant text from Winston Churchill’s “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech:

Nevertheless, our thankfulness at the escape of our Army and so many men, whose loved ones have passed through an agonizing week, must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a colossal military disaster

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government—every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.


Saturday, May 2, 2020

Hypothetical Scenario - The Dark Knight Rises


Given the global coronavirus pandemic, I am posting an additional hypothetical scenario from the NO-MIND FITNESS Self-Mastery Guide. (Here are other hypothetical scenarios.) This scenario comes from the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. You can watch the relevant scenes here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Overall, these scenes superbly portray mental toughness. Rise.

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You are Batman (Bruce Wayne) in the film The Dark Knight Rises. You confront and fight Bane. (‘Bane’ literally means something that causes death, destruction, or ruin.) He ends up kicking your ass, crushing you, and breaking your lower back.

He leaves you in an underground prison (Hell on Earth) somewhere in Asia. He leaves you in a prison cell with a television playing the news, so that you can watch the fall of Gotham City. Having already broken your back, he now wants to break your spirit and then have you rot and die.

You essentially have two options.

Option 1: Quit. Feel sorry for yourself. Fold under pressure and emotional duress. Surrender to the circumstances. Lie helplessly in bed with a broken lower back and watch Gotham City fall.

Option 2: Rise. Fight. Refuse to surrender.

Let the prison doctor fix your lower back. In your prison cell, rehabilitate yourself by doing progressively harder bodyweight workouts: push-ups, pull-ups, air squats, burpees, sit-ups, back extensions, etc.

Once you have rehabilitated yourself, climb out of the underground prison to the land above. Ascend the cylindrical wall. If you fall several times, so be it. Get right back up and plan your next attempt. Eventually, you will succeed.

Once you have escaped from the prison, return to Gotham City and defend it. Stop and terminate Bane.

If you choose the second option, if you choose to fight and never surrender, then you are acting from a place of inner strength: mental toughness and an elite positive attitude.

Your attitude is your ultimate weapon.

With an elite positive attitude, you will not fail but succeed. You will not die or merely survive, but thrive.

“In the worst of conditions, the legacy of my teammates steadies my resolve and silently guides my every deed. I will not fail.” -- Navy SEAL Creed

“I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity… If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.” -- Navy SEAL Creed


Last revised 5/17/2020