Just a thought. Years ago, I ran five US Marine Corps Marathons, a feat I could not again repeat. Each race was punctuated by the US Marine Corps motto, “Earned, Never Given.” The lesson stuck.
Think for a moment about what America would look like – the ethics of our business, political, educational, and cultural worlds, the mindset of our students – if that were the motto of our nation.
Imagine if, rather than expecting the proverbial “free lunch,” everyone wanted to work, wanted to be measured by how hard they worked, attached their “identity” not to gender, race, geography, status, or labels, but to something that proved their worth to others and themselves, a commitment to hard work.
Imagine further that the kind of work you did – in any field – was about improving yourself and the lot of those around you, a double feedback loop. The more you improve the lot of others, the more theirs improved yours, round and round, everywhere upward, an upward spiral.
That process might be one of creating inventions, a business, jobs, or helping others find what they lacked to prosper, invent, take risks, gain confidence, become self-reliant – all the opposite of excuses, appeasing, lodging grievances, blaming others, enabling lethargy, and allowing ambivalence.
Imagine that – as you practiced the motto “earned, never given” – others watched you, saw how you began to accumulate skills, a buffer against adversity, internal peace of heart, confidence in yourself and all you know, and began to wonder if that was not better than just “free stuff.”
Imagine that this motto got you up in the morning and sent you to bed satisfied each night, you’re your day’s work, what you had done, and what that doing meant for your personal future and others.
Imagine if the whole idea of depending on the state, on government to solve your problems, on anyone to solve them – except as a bridge to get you on track – was disfavored, not the norm but an exception, not the goal but the occasional, necessary hand up to spur self-discovery and success.
Imagine if people asked themselves what the limits of their performance were, whether they could learn new skills that were challenging, hit big new goals, climb Mount Everest, start a pathbreaking business, or just save for a home and then plan and build it.
Imagine if we all dared to dream impossible dreams, then took out a notebook, began planning, began believing, began working for them, then helped others do that, began to revel together in our mutual achievements, in odds overcome, in goals met, in the idea that life is best lived working.
Imagine if … we lived to fulfill the motto, to hold ourselves to it, and by modeling that behavior, encouraged others to do exactly that. Imagine if we aspired to hold ourselves to that standard, to the idea that we only want what we work for, that life’s best things are “earned, never given.”
The idea of a society or culture where people take personal responsibility for their lives, do not want others to do for them what they can do for themselves, is American, not just the US Marine Corps.
But the US Marine Corps may be onto something, because that phrase often is paired with “Semper Fidelis,” or “always faithful.” We need to be faithful to our past to assure our future. Just a thought.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Well RBC, another good piece. I worked with the Marines during several of my Navy tours around the world and their devotion to duty definitely rubbed off on me. I still maintain contact with several that I befriended and support several Marine Society foundations.
There’s a reason the Marines are the Few and the Proud! They are always called in to do the dirty work and they go where sent, whether they have necessary supplies or not. They were sent into many areas in past history where they did not have what was needed to sustain themselves, and yet, they carried out their missions and did what was necessary to survive!
My son is a Marine, has been for nearly 15 years! And, I am very proud of him and his service to this nation. Without the 1% willing to step up and serve this country voluntarily, we would need to have mandatory service or a draft.
God bless all our men and women in uniform! God bless the USA! And to our proud Marines, Semper Fi!
good thoughts and aspirations for sure. even the Holy Bible mentions if you are able (not elderly, disabled, etc.) and can work but don’t then you shouldn’t eat. meaning handouts are bad for our country but good for people who want to enslave others since our Creator made us to work and to do the best we can wherever we’re planted.
Spot on! I was in financial sales for over 40 years. I learned early on that there were those who sold things to make a living for themselves, and those who helped people do what was going to ultimately be in those people’s best interest. I chose the latter and incidentally became both highly recognized in my industry and among my peers, and very well compensated. Earned, not given!
WOW, RBC. Another article which is RIGHT ON the point. But I fear articles such as this are wasted on the ‘younger folks’ in ‘Murican society. The ones who think “This is the way it is, and it will ALWAYS be this way!” As if by magic, good stuff keeps comin’ our way.
“Look at what MY new phone can do! My Dad bought it for me….!”
Unfortunately in today’s world of “influencer marketing,” it’s been encouraged to scam your way through doing the least amount of effort while taking advantage of others
The Marines exemplify what a good man should be. I just read a review of a book by Eric Metaxsis that extolled a few remarkable men and denigrate what advertising has done to the image of men during the past few decades. There are still manly men out there, but we need to encourage more of them with positive role models. I hope “woke” culture will go to the dustbin soon.
That principle is likely what most of us our age were taught as children, and then taught our children the same. I believe it’s called not spoiling children by giving them ‘what they want’ without having to work for it (or earn it). It’s part of discipline.
By the way, discipline is teaching self-control – not spanking which is what it meant to my parents. BUT, my siblings and I still learned self-control by avoiding those things that brought on hard spankings.
As a career Marine that experienced “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” I’m here to tell you that despite transitory limitations, our Corps is the best organization in the nation.
I always liked Charlie Kirk’s definition of what “DEI” stands for. Charlie insisted DEI really stood for “Didn’t EARN It”.