Flourishing by Remembering: The Power of Sacrifice, Humility, and Honor
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Audio Transcript:
This weekend. Across the U.S., people are going to be firing up their grills, maybe heading out to the lake or out camping or whatever else to enjoy a well-earned long weekend. But here in Grafton, Memorial Day is kind of part of who we are. It means something very deeply. And for me, it's personal. You know, when I was a kid, I marched in one of the nation's oldest running Memorial Day parades here in Grafton.
And then as a soldier, I, in combat, I came to understand sacrifice in an entirely different way. And today, as a father and a founder and a friend of my community, I've come to believe something that runs totally against maybe what we're hearing in our national dialog right now. And ultimately, you know, true flourishing doesn't come from proving you're right.
It comes from remembering who paid the price for your freedom and your your benefits and your stage in life, and choosing to live like it mattered. So right now, I mean, when you turn on the news or social media, scroll around, or even sit down at dinner with extended family or friends or whatever, and you'll hear it. It's the division.
It's the outrage, the us versus them. We're constantly being told we've got to pick a side and dig in, and we got to dig in fully. We got to believe everything. We gotta the side with everything. But here's the thing. On the battlefield, at the moment of sacrifice, no one's checking in to see if the person next to them is a Republican or Democrat or right or left, or whose team they're on or who they support.
That stuff doesn't matter. You're on a much higher plane when lives on the line, and what matters is who you're fighting for. And growing up in Grafton, Memorial Day again wasn't just a date on the calendar. It was a civic responsibility. I mean, my family taught me. You march, you show up, you don't complain. And as a kid, I didn't fully get that.
I mean, I can remember a moment where I was kind of grumbling about having to go march in the parade on a Monday morning, and. And if you've not been to Grafton Memorial Day, I mean, as a kid, everybody dressed in white carried a flag, carried a bouquet of flowers, and we would go to the National Cemetery and lay those flowers on graves of soldiers that have long passed.
And as a kid, I didn't totally get it as, as a soldier, I did. You know, I've stood in places where people gave everything. And this week, walking through the National Cemetery in Grafton with Rob, who's going to be my co-host, we're actually honored enough to to host a live stream of the parade this year. We did last year.
We're going to do it again this year. Some struck us. We just we saw hundreds of unknown graves. It just it was it was impactful. I mean, these are these are real people, real lives, real families. And they gave everything, and and there are none. No one remembers them. Generations after generation of unknown soldiers have given their lives for the benefit of our society today.
You know, not not for Twitter likes or YouTube, likes or, to win a comment section debate or for kudos on, TV ratings or whatever else. But for something greater than themselves. And I guess that's just what I wanted to talk about today in whatever you're doing. As you know, again, in my three roles as a founder father and a friend to my community, I don't see flourishing about dominating the narrative or acting like you did it all by yourself.
For me, it's it's more about humble yourself enough to recognize that you're standing on the sacrifices of others, that you're benefiting. Some known and some unknown sacrifices are out there. And then the real key is like, what do you choose to do with that? And choosing to live in a way it honors that gift is is my choice.
And you have to choose that over and over again. And I don't always choose right. But I guess that's that's what I want to share today. I mean, it means, you know, I think you can disagree with someone and still serve them. I mean, you can you can succeed and still acknowledge that you've inherited some things to get there and and that others helped you get there.
It means, you know, you don't have to pretend that you build off from scratch, or you're never wrong or you've never made a mistake. That's what we're hearing in today's discourse, that, you know, you can never just say, oops, I did that wrong. And, you know, you get skewered by me. You can't do this. You got to basically lie and continue to posture.
And I guess I just don't think that's it. I don't think that's it for us. I don't think that's the path to flourish. I mean, it might feel good in the moment and it might look good in ratings, but overall what what are we doing? And so I look even at Mount Leverage, I've seen people giving their time.
And you know, I know I'm vectoring from the ultimate sacrifice we're talking about when we focus on Memorial Day to, to smaller sacrifices or a lifelong, you know, life of a mild sacrifices or minor sacrifices, whatever you want to call it. But I've seen people sacrificing their time, their energy, their weekends, their nights, whatever it is to help a customer or support a teammate.
I've seen, you know, community members build things that that they knew they knew darn well. And none of the benefits of that was ever going to happen in their lifetime. And it's long outlived them. You know, think about parents, grandpa. Ants are generations before us. All of those sacrifices that they gave. You know, many of them didn't didn't realize, you know, weren't weren't able to realize the benefits.
And as kids growing up and maybe even adults now, maybe we don't realize those things, but we benefit from them. And so I think that that's a key component of flourishing for me, anyway, that we're not alone in our success. And we talked about this months ago, you know, being self-made and the self-made man. And some of those things is purported out there.
We're not self-made. We're supported. Made. Yeah. You still got to go out and kick. But don't get me wrong, you got to do your thing and good on you to do it. But, you know, there's just there's just a lot more there. And I think when we forget that stuff, it's harder to flourish when we think we're the only one doing it out there.
And Memorial Day is a great chance to remember that. There's the there's this. The I guess, the quintessential focus of Memorial Day on the sacrifice of those who, who've given their, their, their last, their last breath in honor of, in this case, our country here in America. But this notion is around the world. It's across mankind, humankind.
And I think when we look at it flourishing, for me, the truth is flourishing isn't necessarily loud and boastful. It is rooted in honor. It's it's made possible through sacrifice. And it grows, by humility. And I think if you want to flourish in life, I guess for me, I try to start somewhere in that that realm of remembering who who, who gave something for me to be here.
And, and I try to honor them and those, those again, those could be people in my community, my family, people I've never met before but have done great things in the world. And of course, many of the soldiers who fought in wars, just or unjust. Wherever you feel about war, all that stuff just floats away and falls down to nothing like ashes.
When it comes down to the moment when when a soldier or a war fighter is ready to decide that they're ready to give up their life, nothing else matters. All those other things are minuscule and just grains of sand. It's that sacrifice, that moment of sacrifice and that was given for us. And so for me that that's a that's a real fundamental component of flourishing that that, you know, that's all I get.
I walk around in sackcloth and ashes all day, every day. But there are moments and it's I think it's important. So, you know, I obviously I'm passionate about this. I'm not trying to overdo it. We all have our experiences and all of that. But, for for me, you know, you can't beat starting flourishing by looking at at who has sacrificed for you.
And this is a great time of year to take that moment. Yeah. Have fun. Go, go go do the barbecues and hang out. That's the blast. I'm going to do some of that too, because ultimately it's a struggle. When you grow up in a town like this, you know, everything has to be reverent. Everything has to be. Yeah, but you know, part of that, you know, sacrifice without, then honoring that was a life lived to the full feels feels impartial or.
I'm sorry. And not full. Right. What I'm looking for there. It doesn't feel like it's a full honoring of that sacrifice. So go have at it. Do your thing. And, you know, be proud of yourself when you do great things. But for me, I just. I think it's important to remember that. That there's sacrifices out there for us to be where we are.
And it's, it's powerful to remember those. And, and, you know, at that point aligned with their strength, their strength in that moment when they chose the greater cause over saving themselves. And that is a power that is unstoppable. So with that said, yeah, this resonates with you. I'd love to hear your story. You know, leave a review, share with someone who could use a reminder that flourishing is possible even in these divided times.
And wherever you are this Memorial Day weekend, I hope it's safe. Hope you're you're having a great time relaxing. But I also hope you're reflecting and remembering. And ultimately, though, I hope you flourishing.
Alex Reneman is the founder of Mountain Leverage and Unleash Tygart and host of Flourishing w/ Alex Reneman. For 20+ years he has worked as CEO of Mountain Leverage, honing the concept of flourishing and experimenting with it in the business. In July of 2024, he decided to begin to share this idea with others, which led to his podcast, social content, and the plans for other initiatives in the future.
