I recently listened to an interview with a general who was commenting on leadership in the military. He said politically motivated command staff who live far removed from actual combat and attempt to criticize the decisions made by people in the middle of a conflict is like someone trying to use a one thousand-mile-long screwdriver to fix a problem. Their suggested adjustments are not always the wisest because they are too far removed from the reality of a battle to offer sound insight. 

Everyone has critics. These critics are far removed from the challenges another person is facing. They are armchair commanders who make ill-informed judgments void of compassion and empathy. They twist the handle of their one-thousand-mile-long opinion attempting to move another person toward their desired outcome. It rarely works and even rarer are such inputs appreciated because they lack proximity to the realities of the struggle another person is experiencing.

These long-shafted impersonal comments can be about how you should live your life, and how you relate to your spouse or raise your kids. They can be lopsided interpretations of spiritual matters or the right way to spend your money or how you should vote or what drugs you allow to be injected into your body.

I am reading a biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower titled ‘How Ike Led’ written by his granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower. As Eisenhower ranked upward, he did not forget the troops. He never used a passionless one-thousand-mile screwdriver to issue commands on the battlefield. One of the most iconic images of Ike is of him looking into the eyes of the men he would soon send into combat on D-Day. Many would never return home to their families. Eisenhower wanted to look into the eyes of his soldiers and let them know they mattered to him.

Being close enough to look into the eyes of those whose lives will be forever altered by our decisions will change how we see them, speak to them, and what demands we place upon them. Getting up close and personal to another person’s struggle changes everything. Most importantly, it will help us decide if what we are about to say matters.