EDUCATION (Part 3) and APPLICATION (Part 4)

Discipline, Devotion, Education and Application... These are inseparable because they must continuously work together.  Knowledge gained must be applied or it is lost...  As the process of gaining knowledge continues it must be applied or it is lost!...  And it must be a continuous process.  That is why we have tests to see what is retained...  And practical problems involving information received and application  of that information to gain the thing called education...

Part 1 was DISCIPLINE - LEARNING BY CAREFUL EXAMINATION AND OBSERVATION, ADHERING TO A STANDARD.

Part 2 was DEVOTION - SETTING YOURSELF, SINGLE MINDED, SINGLE GOAL ORIENTED, NO DETERRENCE ALLOWED.

Part 3 is EDUCATION - GAINING THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE PERTAINING TO YOUR SINGLE GOAL.

Part 4 is APPLICATION - DOING VOLUNTARILY THAT WHICH THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE GAINED HAS REVEALED TO YOU.

All four taken together and acted upon continuously = WISDOM - LEARNING WHAT WORKS...  WHEN TO USE IT... HOW AND WHERE IT APPLIES. THE ABILITY TO USE WHAT YOU KNOW.  YOU DO NOT KNOW A SUBJECT UNTIL YOU CAN RETAIN IT – REPEAT IT AND APPLY IT!

ed⋅u⋅ca⋅tion

noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Italics and underlining added by D. R. Staton

ap⋅pli⋅ca⋅tion

noun

 4.       close attention; persistent effort.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Italics ans underlining applied by D. R. Staton

First there must be life... and you have that.
Then security... Peace Keepers and family furnish that.
Next, challenge... Something to overcome or solve...
To meet challenge there must be strength... mental, emotional, spiritual...
    all are necessary...
Adversity also comes to play...  Something to hinder or block the desired result...
When adversity comes to play, that necessitates a choice... A decision of what to         do...
With choices come some victories... some defeats... some stalemates...
    Any of these may be large or small...
To those who develop persistence (education and application) there also comes reward.

One of the statements most heard by my regular students as I teach is,
"HEARING, LISTENING, SEEING, LEARNING... AND APPLYING..."  Herein lies
the method of growth and progress in all things.  If you leave out the steps of listening and applying you do not learn and retain.  Others say it another way, "Train, Train, Train... Often and Hard."... or "Train hard... or not at all!"  Sometimes I say it another way, "You do not know a subject until you can retain it, repeat it and apply it!"  I learned all of these things through several professions...  Engineering (civil, structural and mechanical), teaching, preaching and law enforcement.  I had some most fabulous teachers.  Every teacher that was good for me taught me to think.  When I learned to think, then I learned to absorb useful information that I could apply to daily responsibilities on the job... and in daily life.

When a Peace Keeper learns to go through the process of training and application
he/she learns valuable lessons that will work in many other places than just when on
duty.  Training involves principles or laws.  Once these laws are learned and
applied to gain experience... they are always available and they always work
whenever and wherever they are applied... even in situations that do not involve
duty but also in everyday personal life.

Learning to do the best you can with what you have where you are and leaving the
rest to God or whomever else is responsible is the recipe for success on the
battlefield and wherever else that you might be.  My weekly closing admonition is
not just a catchy phrase... it is the everyday experience gained by me and a lot of
successful people including other Peace Keepers and a lot of other people...
professionals, laborers, housekeepers, mechanics and many other endeavors...
"Be alert... watchful... suspicious... and wary..." These attitudes will cause you to be
successful and truly live the fullest of your potential in your chosen field and in your personal life.  In peace keeping, these are the attitudes that keep you alive... and staying alive gives you both success and victory.

Hearing is a Physiological process... it happens automatically... But if you are not
listening the sound has no meaning.  Seeing is a physiological process... But if you
are not concentrating on what is seen the sight has no detail and no revelation to
the consciousness.  Learning means listening and observing in the fullest sense
of your abilities... and making practical application of what you take in... then putting
it to use to gain the best results possible.  You do not know a subject until you can
apply what you have learned and explain to another person why you are doing it
and what the results are of making the practical application.  Knowing means being able to retain it, repeat it and apply it.

Being a Peace Keeper is an appointment.  Being a person in the support systems
of and for Peace Keepers is an appointment.  These appointments require people
who will accept the challenge and do the best possible job that they are capable of
doing.  Whether we are talking about troops on the ground (including law
enforcement), pilots in the air, sailors on the sea... instructors, dispatchers, clerks,
department heads, administrators, EMT's, Medics or anyone else... Every one in the whole system is vital to the success of the mission of keeping the peace.  One Peace Keeper may achieve success alone at times, but that success is definitely dependent upon all of the instruction, assistance and experience that Peace Keeper has received and absorbed from many others along the way to that point.

I sit here today a well educated man who has had life long adventure as I sought the way and means to live.  My journey began in poverty in a rural setting.  I can remember ideas coming to me that would cause me to think differently than all those I grew up with.  I would respond to those ideas and things in my life would change for the better... or I would learn a lesson that would improve me as I put it to use.  I can say that all of the most useful knowledge that is at my disposal came through challenge and adversity... both conditions often brought on by other people or by my own actions.

All of the obstacles of my beginning were overcome by learning all I could about the challenge I faced... learning what was available to me that would assist me to meet it... and educating myself beyond what others had made available to me... plus trying new things that I had never done before... such as learning to roller skate.  Skating and playing hockey built up my arms, my legs and my lower body to be much more heavy and powerful than my upper body until I learned as a adult how to improve my upper body also.

Life is ours to live.  Security is provided to those of us who have learned how to live by the ones who kept the peace so that we could live and thrive.  That security we owe to parents or Guardians and Peace Keepers.  They brought us to the point where we could learn and apply what we learned by application of choice.  We were nurtured until we could nurture ourselves and choose for ourselves.

When we began to learn how to nurture ourselves challenge came to bear... things and situations wherein we could learn and apply ourselves and overcome the challenge.  We learned to make choices, judgments and application.  We learned to test and stretch.  We learned that we were not exactly like anyone else... Even as others tried to mold us to be much like others.  Differences sometimes bring adversity.  By this point we probably had begun to establish a dream that we wanted to accomplish... We learned to look past the challenges and adversities to see the dream that we had formulated or received.  We made choices... Sometimes the choices helped... Sometimes the choices brought more adversity... Sometimes we won victories... Sometimes we suffered defeat... BUT IF YOU ARE READING THIS FAR YOU SAW BEYOND THE DEFEATS AND ADVERSITIES AND HELD ON TO THE DREAM.  Persistence, Discipline, Devotion, Education and Application became your tools and they also became their own reward.

While surviving all of the tragedies of my childhood and youth I learned that if you can dream it you can achieve it.  In my childhood I was allowed to learn and grow but not pushed.  Choices, consequences and education were the tools used to give me direction.  Make good choices and carry them out (application)... you gain something worthwhile, usually good results.  Make poor choices and try to carry them out and it cost far more than it was worth.  Learning the difference between good choices and poor or bad choices is another definition of education.

Learn from the not so good experiences and do not repeat them.  Learn from the experiences that come from good choices and build on them (application).  I call that prosperity... Even if I never get rich in the gold of this world... And always work on all things in such a way that the results will impel you toward the dream in your heart.  Our history is filled with people who did that... applying persistence and experience to gain education; to gain prosperity; to deliver (application of the education gained) a service that others needed or wanted.

The United States of America is built upon such dreams.

Here we stand at the threshold of a new day and a new opportunity.  Adversity abounds!  Peace Keepers are committed to making the society in which we live as safe as possible.  This gives all people the opportunity to live, work and dream.  We all build on what has gone before us that was achieved by others.

I HAVE SEEN MIRACLES AND BEEN HIGHLY BLESSED...
    ENJOYED PLENTY... SUFFERED LACK...
    KNOWN THE HEIGHTS OF ECSTASY...
    ENDURED THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR...
    LOOKED DEATH IN THE FACE NUMEROUS TIMES...
    EXPERIENCED DEATH COMING FOR ME MANY TIMES...

I HAVE SURVIVED... BECAUSE OF GRACE AND MERCY...
    AND MY WILLINGNESS TO LEARN AND APPLY!!!...
    BEEN THAT WHICH OTHERS DID NOT WANT TO BE...
    GONE WHERE OTHERS FEARED TO GO...
    DONE WHAT OTHERS FEARED TO DO.
    SEEN THE FACE OF TERROR...
    FELT THE STINGING COLD OF FEAR
        BUT FUNCTIONED WELL IN SPITE OF IT...
    EXPERIENCED MANY PASSIONS...
    ENJOYED THE SWEET ECSTASY OF MOMENTS OF LOVE...
    OBSERVED UP CLOSE THE END OF LIVES..
    BEEN AWED BY THE SAVING OF LIFE...
    WEPT AND TASTED THE TEARS OF FRUSTRATION...
    HURT... HOPED... AND LIVED TIMES OTHERS
        WOULD SAY WERE BEST FORGOTTEN...
    AND ONCE... BEEN DEATH'S INSTRUMENT!..

All of this has been my experience as I have sought TO LIVE...
to overcome... to pursue the fullness of life... to experience the liberty to dream and choose... to enjoy happiness that is the result of fulfilling the life with which we began and  built upon...
This is the legacy we received from those who came before us...
This is the legacy that we can leave for those who come after us.

The  Great Dream is achieved by each one taking hold of that part of the Dream that falls to us and doing the best we can with it , learning and applying.  In Peace Keeping we are all members one of another.  No one of us can achieve the American Dream alone.  The Dream is achieved as we work together toward the common goals of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Even the stealthy Ranger or Commando has built upon (applied) what has been learned by and from others.  We may do a mission alone but we achieve the victory by application and building upon what others have passed down to us.  No one of us is an island unto ourselves.

The good and the glory of this nation is paid for and built upon the sacrifice of those who took a stand for it's good... it's survival... and it's prosperity.  The concept of a mighty nation is built only upon the achievements of the many individuals and groups who also took hold of the Dream and worked for it's fulfillment.. They gained an education by learning it...  They gained results by applying the discipline, devotion and education.

Challenge and adversity are meant to be growth tools.  Defeat can be used as a growth tool also.  Wherever you begin your day of duty... Whether from a trench, a foxhole, a barracks or a home... Begin it with a prayer for guidance and direction (like in your oath of office, "... SO HELP ME GOD!") AND GO INTO IT WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT IF YOU PUT IN YOUR BEST, YOU WILL GET THE BEST RESULTS THAT CAN BE GOTTEN.  The "Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father" is a most effective prayer to apply here...

For all that is available to us I thank our ancestors, our predecessors and our contemporaries and my Commander-in-Chief.  They gave it to us... Now we may take advantage of it.

NOTE:  This process must involve the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the human organism in order to be most successful.  If any one of those four aspects are ignored or hindered, you will gain some results but the best that could have been will never be achieved.  I knew that very early in life...  But I had to search and journey far and wide through many things to reach the use and knowledge of all four aspects.  As I look back over the Journey, I find all that I had to experience to gain each level of knowledge and experience were worth the trip, the search, the experience and the ultimate success achieved.  One of my Peace Keepers asked me yesterday how long I was going to hang around?  I asked what he meant?  He said, "How long are you going to keep working with us?  My response is always the same...  "Preachers do not retire...  They re-fire (keep stoked on the Fire of God) and keep going."  I am still here because He has not given me any change in orders.  Until He does I must keep on doing what I know to do for as long as I am capable of doing it.

Sometimes a Peace Keeper becomes so successful on the field that they are
moved into a position of training and instructing everyone from recruits to
specialists.  I have talked with many who have been moved into these positions. 
Some wanted it and requested it.  Some were ordered into it and did not like it.  I
realized when I began as a Peace Keeper that the most influential position a Peace
Keeper could attain was to be a trainer... to become so good at one or more facets
of the profession as to be more valuable training others by the experience gained in practical application in the field on the job... than they could be if allowed to continue doing the job themselves.  Really good Peace Keepers can multiply themselves many times over by sharing their expertise and experience with those who could learn and apply the experience that the instructors had learned and passed on to those who could do the job...  While the instructors kept multiplying their experience to other students... class... after class... after class... after class.

Instructing is a place where those who could do the job did it... and did it so well that
peace keeping needed them to be multiplied for the success of the current and
future endeavor.  From the very beginning I looked forward to becoming a trainer. 
I enjoyed every facet of the job... but I get the most joy from instilling useful,
life-keeping, life-giving information into those who can and will take my place in the
thin line of peace keeping... or in living!  Today those recruits look so young and beautiful... Tomorrow some of them will have advanced so well that they will be taking all of our places as instructors and administrators as we pass on through life and graduate from the process of keeping the peace.  Our replacements... and our future... are our students and recruits.  My job as an instructor and administrator is to train the student so well that they no longer need me to teach them... then they can do the job and teach others as well.

From time to time when someone says something about the state of the society...
the nation... or the world... I think for a moment and respond with...
"I would be most happy to work myself out of a job... or
I would be most happy if those I instruct could do so well that they could replace me and do a better job... or
I would be ecstatically happy if the world were to progress to the place where it no longer had need of this chaplain to perform any of my duties."

Peace Keepers, I appreciate you because you are there...  Because of who you are...  And because of what you do!  My Commander-In-Chief and I deeply appreciate you because we know the Journey you have embarked upon.  We are, and will be, eternally grateful that you are there...

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others. See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you.  Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.

In relation to my daughter...  The skin graft is progressing well.  The small wound on her side was stretched too tight by scar tissue and began to tear.  I clipped the torn scar tissue and now it looks great and is progressing again.  She is not feeling well because of her legs still swelling and because of nausea.  If I had to take all the meds she takes I would probably be nauseous also.  Thank you for your prayers and concern.

As it has always been... So it still is!!!

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics...  it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. 
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
Senior Chaplain and Administrative Chaplain VBPD,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety) VBPD
Blackwater Alumni
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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