Total Commitment, Absolute Resolve

September 24, 2009

It surprised me to be going to a seminar called “When the Shooting Starts,” put on by Human Resources and Public Safety to educate people on what to do if gunmen attack campus, as they did at Virginia Tech. But there I was. I was the only faculty member. The room was full of people I didn’t know, except when I introduced myself to the woman beside me she said, “Oh, you’re the one who wrote that beautiful piece about choosing your friends from those who watch the geese fly overhead.” The DVD wouldn’t play, and nothing was said that wasn’t common sense, but I was interested in it, and glad I went. The campus police chief summarized what the DVD would have said to us, which was, basically, if you hear shots:

Assess the situation.
Devise a plan of action
Carry out the plan of action.

He noted that though running and hiding are the preferred solutions, there will be times when you can’t run and you can’t hide, and you’re face to face with an armed maniac. What do you do then? You take him out. But in order to do so, you must have “total commitment, absolute resolve.”

Total commitment. Absolute resolve.

In the next hour I was teaching Buddhism to my Humanities class, and it dawned on me walking back to my office through the sunlight that this was a description not only of a campus crisis situation, but of Buddhism, of any religion. You’re miserable. All the firearms of the world are pointed at your head. Fear and Illusion are staring down the barrels at your heart. What do you do? You assess the situation. This is the Four Passing Sights. You devise a plan of action. This is the Four Noble Truths. You carry out the plan of action. This is the Eightfold Path. And what does it take to stay on the Path? Total Commitment. Absolute Resolve. Most of us are too reasonable for total commitment, absolute resolve. This is why we fail.

I am more capable of it than has yet been put to the test.