Humility And Success (October 10, 2004)

To fulfill a noble purpose you must first kill pride.

As I read Shelby Foote's classic history of the Civil War, I am amazed at how often grown men squabbled over petty differences as their nation teetered on the brink of ruin. With thousands of lives at stake, generals and statesmen (on the same side!) snapped at each other over insults and snubs and the issue of who would get glory or whose career would be advanced.

Much of Abraham Lincoln's greatness can be found in his ability to keep above that fray. One November night in 1861 he went to visit General George McClellan at his home in Washington. Informed by a servant that McClellan was at a wedding, Lincoln, along with Secretary of State William Seward and undersecretary John Hay, waited for him to get back. When the general returned, the servant told him that Lincoln was there to see him. McClellan walked right past the room where Lincoln and his associates sat. A half hour later, wondering about the delay, they sent the servant to fetch him and were told that he had gone to bed!

As the three trudged back to the White House, Hay angrily denounced McClellan's rudeness. But Lincoln, Foote writes, "quietly remarked that this was no time for concern over points of etiquette and personal dignity. 'I will hold McClellan's horse if he will only bring us success,' he said soon afterward."

You could almost say that Lincoln won the war right there. Lincoln had his priorities right. What mattered was winning, not worrying about little things like whether people treated him with respect. In
wartime, a leader must dismiss insults like an athlete dismissing minor injuries during a game. Stuff your ego. Take the pain. Play on.

(As it turns out, Lincoln was dead wrong about McClellan, whose ineptitude soon revealed him as maybe the worst general in the history of the United States. The vain fool couldn't win a game of tiddlywinks against children, much less secure victory for the Union. But no one knew that in 1861.)

In today's Chicago Tribune, I read that Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers, famed double-play infielders for the World Champion 1908 Chicago Cubs, hated each other. They had some falling out and didn't even speak to each other until the 1930s. But, as baseball historian Gabriel Schechter writes, "Their overriding desire to win overcame any personal problems." That “overriding desire to win” is exactly what basketball teammates Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant did not have this past season. The two best players in the game went down to defeat because neither could squelch personal pride for the sake of a higher purpose: another NBA championship.

Pastor Rick Warren has been reminding us all in recent years of the need to lead "purpose-driven" lives. Grab hold of a good purpose, like the glory of God, the evangelization of the lost, the edification of the church, or the pursuit of holiness - and don't let pride screw up your attainment of it. Be prepared, like Lincoln, to march right through the slings and arrows of outrageous offenses to your dignity. Don't let such piddly things deter you. You're big enough (that is, humble enough) to take it.