
There’s not a lot to do on an 11 hour flight apart from watch movies.
And I just watched a doozy.
Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war drama film about the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic who was a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.
He refused to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind.
Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honour, for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa. He rescued 75 injured people in one night crawling round in the dirt dragging them to safety.
The movie is brutal. The battle scenes are blood, guts and missing limbs.
Doss was a true hero.
Brave, principled and unshakeable from his values.
The ‘happy ending’ is that he survived and was rewarded for his bravery.
But it’s a dangerous message.
We always revere the survivors.
Doss survived where thousands of his comrades didn’t.
He was lucky. War is a brutal, chaotic thing and there’s a ton of luck to just surviving it.
But going into battle without weapons is stacking the odds against you.
You could die without firing a shot.
The business world can be a battle too.
If you wan’t to survive the battle we can help give you weapons.
Stock the armoury in a 45 minute strategy session: go.jameskemp.co/aa-schedule/