Eldon Sortland

“I don’t have an impressive life master plan. I often don’t know where I’m going fifteen minutes from now. I just try to understand right from wrong, and to follow what my mother, pastors, and coaches taught me.”
― John M. Vermillion, Pack's Posse

“Growth happens in many ways, but a primary way is by giving your team authority equal to their responsibilities. This allows them to learn how to win by giving them the right to lose and, as a result, to learn from the experience”
― Andrew Wyatt, Pro Leadership: Establishing Your Credibility, Building Your Following and Leading With Impact

“a counselor interrupted his meeting with faculty down the hall. "Frank, they need you," he said. "You need to go out there."
Frank walked the hallway to the nave of the church, contemplating what to say. And again he faced the dilemma of how to act at the microphone. Several of his friends, and staff, too, had warned him not to cry again. "God, you're going to be in the national media," they said. "You can't show that, it's a sign of weakness." He had gotten away with it once, but the media would crucify him if they discovered he was buckling.
The trauma specialists disagreed. These kids had been raised in a western mentality, they argued: real men fend for themselves; tears are for weaklings; therapy is a joke. "Frank, you are the key," one counselor advised him. "You're an emotional person, you need to show those emotions. If you try to hold your emotions inside, you're going to set the image for other people." The boys, in particular, would be watching him. DeAngelis felt. They were already dangerously bottled up. "Frank, they need to know it's all right to show emotion," the counselor said. "Give them that permission."...
"I walked on that stage and I saw those kids cheering and the tears started coming down."
This time he decided to address the tears. "Guys, trust me, now is not the time to show your manliness," he told them. "Emotion is emotion, and keeping it inside doesn't mean you're strong."
That was the last time Mr. D worried about crying in public. p117-18”
― Dave Cullen, Columbine

“The only thing worse than fighting in a war, is fighting in a war within a war.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969