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The National WWII Museum asks…
How Can
Your Community Achieve Victory?
Victory
Through Selflessness
Second Place: Cheyenne Tibbitts, 11th
grade, Salmon High School,
Salmon, ID
He stood on
the flight deck of the U.S.S. Hornet
with the brilliantly shining B-25
bombers meticulously lined out before
him. In a few minutes he would be
sitting in the pilot seat of one,
silently brooding behind the steering
wheel. The fear simmering inside him
would only intensify, he was sure. He
didn’t know if his body could tolerate
more of the adrenaline already streaming
through it, threatening to burst his
veins. Yet he knew an even more
powerful, concentrated adrenaline would
soon be pulsing, pumping through him,
from the tips of his toes to the ends of
his crewcut hairs.
She’s standing in the pitifully painted
hallway of her high school, staring down
at her perfectly manicured toes and the
black, velvet, peep-toe pumps splendidly
displaying them. The
less-than-euphemistic words of her best
friend pierce her stylishly-adorned ears
and vibrate through her like an electric
shockwave. Peering up under heavily
mascara-coated lashes, she meets the
sorrowful eyes of her friend’s victim, a
plainly-dressed girl with hot,
embarrassed tears skimming down her
mortified, flushing cheeks.
Doubt reverberated through his
military-trained mind as he fearfully
walked up to the door of his “Mitchell”
twin-engine bomber. Questioning feelings
fluttered through him as he pondered his
future. He knew the danger–he was flying
on a one-way ticket. Fear was stealthily
seeping through him, seeming to dissolve
the strength built up in his
fully-formed muscles...until he looked
around at his fellow aviators. Resolve,
determination, and bravery beamed from
their faces like brilliant sunshine
beams through the fading clouds of a
storm. Suddenly, a vigorous, powerful
energy recharged his body, loading him
with a surge of confidence.
She fights a moral battle within herself
and questions her strength. Does she
have the courage to stop this shockingly
cruel act? Terminating this harshness
will mean her prestigious social life
will flee from her like a burning paper
in the wind. Can she sacrifice this
piquant role she plays so well? The
jealous, envying stares she attracts
like a magnet give her a strange
satisfaction. She thrives on the
attention poured upon her like a royal,
golden rain shower. Can she throw it all
away in an instant?
On April 18, 1942, a group of incredibly
courageous American pilots and their
spirited leader, Lieutenant Colonel
James Doolittle, set out to fulfill a
seemingly impossible mission. Defying
all odds, they daringly took flight from
an extremely shortened runway on a U.S.
Navy aircraft carrier in the middle of
the dense Pacific Ocean. Throwing their
natural human tendencies out the windows
of their B-25 bombers, they selflessly
placed their precious lives on the line.
Valorously flying over enemy territory,
they bombed the crucial Japanese
military targets, having enough fuel to
complete the mission but not enough to
return home.
The Doolittle Raiders were impressively
heroic and their story is exciting and
appealing. But it’s not just a story.
Those magnificent pilots were selfless
enough to risk their lives for victory.
Very aware of the possibility they may
never return to the United States, they
still ignited their plane engines,
gallantly took flight, and soared
selflessly.
As she looks around at the growing,
attentive crowd, her stomach flip-flops
and her heart pounds violently against
her core, like double-timed fists to a
punching bag. Despite these irregular
distresses in her body, her mind knows
what she has to do. So she calls out in
protest to her friend, “Stop! Leave her
alone!”
The shocked faces of her peers galvanize
the sound from the hallway, leaving only
a deafening silence in its place. Her
palms sweat as she repeats the plea to
her perplexed friend. Her friend’s angry
eyes bluntly glare at her and she feels
an extreme heat creep deep into her
cheeks. Then suddenly, like a rippling
wave across the vast ocean, one after
another, the shocked faces in the
crowded hallway turn to ones full of
admiration. Genuine smiles beam her way
and she feels a gentle, praising pat on
her back.
In a perfect high school, the timid
bookworm dwelling in the back of the
classroom wouldn’t have to camouflage
himself as the cool kids walk by. The
apparently flawless cheerleader wouldn’t
have to wake at ridiculous hours to
maintain her reputable image and could
admit that she actually loved the
required reading of A Tale of Two Cities
in English class. In a perfect high
school, he would have friends and she
could be herself.
But high school isn’t perfect. Some
still get tripped as they walk down the
hallway. Some still get pushed around,
some still get labeled, and occasionally
some backs still gets pasted with “kick
me” signs. The top of the towering
social ladder is still proudly
displaying its desirable, yet rather
meaningless prize of coveted popularity
just waiting to be snatched at the top.
There is still that unstoppable desire
that insistently drives everyone upward
to get it, causing the unnecessary
battles between opposing cliques, the
ruthless name-calling, and the harsh
insults.
To achieve victory over these teenage
forms of bullying and abuse, so
prevalent in high school, students need
to follow the example of the Doolittle
Raiders. Obviously, most will never be
asked to selflessly place their life on
the line or be required to go on a
mission with little hope of return, but
everyday each student has an opportunity
to make small decisions that can have a
monumental impact on the life of someone
else. When students can make the
decision to put another person before
him or herself, they automatically
eliminate the rapacious race for
popularity and stop destructive bullying
in its tracks. To conquer this enemy, to
win this battle, students must become
selfless servers, not of the sky, but of
the school. |
