“In 1977, I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and joined the Navy SEALs. Over the course of the next thirty-seven years, I traveled the world. I saw the worst of humanity: war and destruction, disease and poverty, cruelty and indifference. The world was full of problems, seemingly intractable, unsolvable, impossible problems! But also in those thirty-seven years I saw the very best of mankind. Men and women who sought peace, who rebuilt nations, who cured disease and lifted the poor from poverty. Men and women whose compassion was so deep that it made the cruelty and indifference in the others pale in comparison; men and women who were from all walks of life, from every socioeconomic background, from every race, every creed, and every gender and orientation. ...
This book is about heroes and the virtues they possess. You may wonder whether you can ever be as courageous and compassionate or as humble as the men and women in these stories. Trust me, you can! For some, living the Hero Code comes more naturally. But for most of us, we must learn how to bring forth these virtues. We need to see them in the lives of others and try to mirror them in ourselves. We need to build those qualities through small steps that eventually become the foundation of our character.”
~ Admiral William H. McRaven from The Hero Code
This is the third Note we have created on Admiral William H. McRaven’s great books.
We started with Make Your Bed—a short, brilliant, inspiring manual all about “Little Things That Can Change Your Life... And Maybe the World” that was inspired by McRaven’s commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin that went viral.
Then we featured his autobiography called Sea Stories which is all about the wisdom he gained from his nearly four decades in special operations.
This is his latest book. Of course, when I saw the title I KNEW I had to read it. And, here we are.
As expected, the book is fantastic. It’s a super-quick reading, incredibly inspiring look at “Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived” that walks us through the lives of every day heroes who showed up and gave us all they had. I highly recommend it. Get a copy here.
We’ll start at the top with the ten virtues that form the basis of The Hero Code.
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