callsignhusker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
callsignhusker) wrote2007-05-19 04:44 pm
callsignhusker) wrote2007-05-19 04:44 pm
(no subject)
The point always comes
(one, two, one-two-one-two-one-one-two)
when rather than destroy the whole delicate works (which you picked up in the first place to keep from losing your temper)
(combinations: jab, cross, switch)
you have to go beat the hell out of a bag.
Adama wipes the sweat out of his eyes and sets back at it.
One of his specialists in the brig, and Tyrol had to be told why Socinus is there. Tyrol came to complain. Adama had to tell him the nugget's lesson about the uniform, and what it means, and how it means you can't lie under oath -- and how long has Tyrol been in the Fleet?
Object lessons in leadership are one thing. Adama can do those. But not like this.
The challenge
(time to move to the speed-bag, how fast can I go)
is to walk the fine middle road between flexibility and accountability. Flexibility and discipline. Times have changed. This is still the Colonial Fleet, as ragtag and desperate and exhausted and numb as they all are. When you're numb you revert to your training. When the numbness wears off you revert to your training.
Do you grieve for an entire civilization -- for billions of people, for the systems and the politics and the natural resources and all the little customs that made up the Twelve Colonies -- as you do for a son?
Adama's hands pause.
He could call Lee. Get Lee down here, or try to. Better to work with someone. If he thinks he can, he could even tell Lee --
"No," he says, quiet, and starts in on the speed-bag again, slowly at first, gaining speed, working himself into a near-trance. This is like meditation. Proof that he's still moving. Still alive.
Three people died today.
He and Saul could have died today.
Bill feels the burn in his arms, keeps pounding, doesn't flinch, one-two-two-one-one-two-two-one, hears the blood in his ears and blinks away the sting of the sweat in his eyes. He lets his hands fall minutes later, bends over with his hands resting on his knees, breathes.
Straightens.
Starts again.
(one, two, one-two-one-two-one-one-two)
when rather than destroy the whole delicate works (which you picked up in the first place to keep from losing your temper)
(combinations: jab, cross, switch)
you have to go beat the hell out of a bag.
Adama wipes the sweat out of his eyes and sets back at it.
One of his specialists in the brig, and Tyrol had to be told why Socinus is there. Tyrol came to complain. Adama had to tell him the nugget's lesson about the uniform, and what it means, and how it means you can't lie under oath -- and how long has Tyrol been in the Fleet?
Object lessons in leadership are one thing. Adama can do those. But not like this.
The challenge
(time to move to the speed-bag, how fast can I go)
is to walk the fine middle road between flexibility and accountability. Flexibility and discipline. Times have changed. This is still the Colonial Fleet, as ragtag and desperate and exhausted and numb as they all are. When you're numb you revert to your training. When the numbness wears off you revert to your training.
Do you grieve for an entire civilization -- for billions of people, for the systems and the politics and the natural resources and all the little customs that made up the Twelve Colonies -- as you do for a son?
Adama's hands pause.
He could call Lee. Get Lee down here, or try to. Better to work with someone. If he thinks he can, he could even tell Lee --
"No," he says, quiet, and starts in on the speed-bag again, slowly at first, gaining speed, working himself into a near-trance. This is like meditation. Proof that he's still moving. Still alive.
Three people died today.
He and Saul could have died today.
Bill feels the burn in his arms, keeps pounding, doesn't flinch, one-two-two-one-one-two-two-one, hears the blood in his ears and blinks away the sting of the sweat in his eyes. He lets his hands fall minutes later, bends over with his hands resting on his knees, breathes.
Straightens.
Starts again.