This week we read about the 8+ elements of reasoning. The assignment is to tell "my story" as it relates to these elements. I have to admit - I am stumped. What is my story? Do I tell my professional story? Do I tell the story about my marriage and relationships? How about the story of who I want to become?
I think the best place to start here is to address the first element of reasoning - point of view. I am going to tell this story based on my own point of view. Nobody knows me better than me. Though it is possible and often highly effective to tell a life story from the point of view of an outsider (think about Sam Elliott narrating the story of The Dude in "The Big Lebowski"), I prefer to tell my own story as I see it myself. It's a story that I probably need to hear anyway.
The 8+ elements are as follows: point of view, purpose, question at issue, assumptions, implications and consequences, information, concepts, conclusions/interpretations and, though technically not an element, alternatives. Now the actual paper that I am writing this week details all of these and I don't want my blog to read like a term paper. I am therefore going to tell my story under the assumption that you already are intimately familiar with all of the elements of reasoning.
I have already addressed the point of view. I am going to tell my story through my own eyes. So, that brings me to the next issue - what is my purpose? This is really where I want to focus today. Though I am very proud of my career as a Soldier, I don't feel that defines my purpose in life. That is what I do. It isn't who I am. There is a difference. So what is my purpose? My intent here is not to push my religious or spiritual beliefs on anybody that may read this but you have to understand that I believe that I have a higher purpose than to just mature and reproduce. I truly believe that my whole life has been building to a higher purpose of being a leader. I don't mean just a leader in business or in the home. I mean I feel that my gift is one of leadership. I guess that I have maybe always had a certain hint of charisma. I think back to when I was in high school. I was a choir geek for sure. But I started with my leadership roles there. I was a section leader for the baritones (tenors before my voice really changed) and was a council member/officer for the theatre department. After I graduated from high school, I left nearly immediately. I claimed that I was enlisting so that I could get the GI Bill so I could pay my own way through college but that is probably a bunch of hooey. I had a full scholarship to be a vocal performance major. I think it was just something a little deeper. It wasn't really a sense of patriotism or pride. I am sure those had something to do with my decision to enlist but they were not the real reason. I just knew that I wanted to do something amazing in the future and I felt that military service was the best way to position myself to get there. I just didn't know where "there" was. While serving, I got married, I completed my degree, I started graduate school (three times, now!). I served five combat tours where I led other Soldiers (and followed other incredible leaders). Everything has been building to this one greater purpose of life - to be a leader. I am not really sure where that will take me. My sister and mother are both pretty much convinced that I am supposed to become a pastor. My wife used to tell me that I was supposed to become a politician. If they were telling my story from their point of view, perhaps we could understand why they thought that. I personally do not know. I think about it all the time, though. I just know that I am designed to be a leader.
This assignment isn't just about me talking about my purpose in life. As we apply the element of "purpose" to reasoning, I understand that it is just one element of a fluid process. It really doesn't even mean to explain what I feel my purpose in life is. However, the assignment is to tell my story. How else can I do it without reasoning through my own personal purpose? And of course, there are the other elements of reason that I haven't even touched yet. There is the question at issue (I think I pretty much addressed that - I am telling my story), assumptions (based on my background and upbringing), implications, information, concepts (humor is probably the biggest driving concept in developing my personality) and conclusions. Though I do have to reason through all of these elements to truly tell my whole story, I just wanted to focus on what I feel my purpose is today. Additionally, I feel that telling my own purpose fulfilled the purpose of this assignment - to relate telling my story through the elements of reasoning.
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