One of my
(few) heroes is Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain; he was a professor of Rhetoric
at Bowdoin
college who joined the Union army during the Civil War, against the wishes
of the Bowdoin
trustees, because he believed in the Union cause. He became the hero
of the battle
of Gettysburg when, as Colonel of the 20th Maine, stationed
at the end
of the Union
lines and told to hold at any cost, he ordered, in desperation after his
troops had
run out of ammunition, a fixed bayonet charge (a maneuver he'd read
about in
a tactical manual). The 20th Maine troops, trusting him, ran
down the hill
known as
"Little Roundtop" into Confederate lines. The shocked Confederates
surrendered,
their attempt at flanking the Union line defeated. Chamberlain became
one of the
most celebrated soldiers of the war.
I have a photograph of myself at the 20th Maine monument at Gettysburg tacked
to my bulletin board to remind myself
of the necessity to face the very different challenge
that has been given to me. I wish
I were in Chamberlain's place instead, because I possess
the qualities it would take to prevail
in a situation like his: physical courage and confidence
in my ability to review information
quickly and act decisively. However, in my place, the
qualities I need are, instead, those
I lack: patience, perseverance, an ability to appreciate incremental change.
