Compass Points - Higher Meaning

Marines search for meaning

Compass Points - Higher Meaning

Marines search for meaning

August 25, 2024

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Sunday is a good day for reflecting on higher things. Victor Frankl says higher things are a matter of life and death.

Author Viktor E. Frankl wrote his seminal work, "Man's Search for Meaning" to explain how people act under great stress and how they can survive under even the most dire circumstances. Frankl was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps.

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We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

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Frankl explained that if human beings are to survive severe hardship, they need to find some higher meaning in their lives, a meaning outside of themselves.

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A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how".

 -- Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

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Throughout Marine recruit training Marine recruits are taught to stop thinking of themselves first and start thinking of others first. Marines are placed into fire teams and squads. In these small units Marines find meaning; they find protection and a purpose.

How important are these small units?

In his book, The Face of Battle, author John Keegan writes that all war is aimed at the disintegration of the small human units.

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[Battle is]“always a study of solidarity and usually also of disintegration — for it is toward the disintegration of human groups that battle is directed.

-- John Keegan, The Face of Battle

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The Marine Corps promotes three values above all others, honor, courage, and commitment. The Marine Corps values of honor, courage, and commitment are not individual values alone. While Marines must cultivate the values inside themselves, the values are not for the benefit of themselves. The values are for the benefit of the Marines around them. Honor for their squad. Courage for their squad. Commitment to their squad.

New Marines quickly are moved from a focus on the word "I" to a wider focus on the word "we." For example, in taking the oath of enlistment, the new Marine makes an individual pledge.

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I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

-- Oath of Enlistment

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While it is true that the word "I" does appear in the oath of enlistment -- after all, it is an individual enlistment -- in the Marine's Hymn, however, the word "I" does not appear at all. The hymn features "we."

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From the Halls of Montezuma

To the Shores of Tripoli;

We fight our country's battles

In the air, on land and sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

of United States Marine.

.. Marine's Hymn, first verse

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Victor Frankl says that human beings must find higher meaning in life if they are to survive. By enlisting in the Marine Corps, young recruits quickly learn that, if they want to be Marines, they must set aside their focus on themselves. Marines are focused on something higher. Marines are focused on accomplishing the mission and taking care of their Marines. Serving others is the greatest service anyone can perform. Marines serve others and Marines fight for others. Service to others fills the life of a Marine with higher meaning. That is why Marines are "proud to claim the title."