By David Hurtado
Mark Johnson, a retired Green Beret, spoke at the college Thursday in the Craig Community Auditorium on leadership and how to make a difference in the lives of others.
Johnson began the seminar by talking about what we, as individuals, can accomplish when we set our minds to it. It does not take anything extraordinary to do what you want in life, only the will to realize it, he said.
“You can accomplish anything you want to in this world, anything at all,” Johnson said. “If you want to be an astronaut, by gosh we have two astronauts who grew up within 100 miles of here. If you want to be a scientist and invent things and win the Nobel Prize for physics like Jack Kilby from Great Bend, Kansas, the path has already been paved. You can do anything you want to in life, anything.”
However, Johnson said we have to make a commitment to ourselves that we can accomplish what we set our minds to. No one else can bring us to our destination; we alone hold the key to our future.
“You are responsible, nobody else is,” Johnson said. “Not me, not your folks, not your good buddies, we are only enablers and facilitators. We help enable your success and facilitate your success, but you ultimately build your own ship. You ultimately decide your own fate.”
Johnson went on to say there are two paths we can take to accomplish what we want in life. There’s the easy path that mostly everyone takes or the hard path that gets us the self-esteem, like Paul Schneider did. Schneider was a captain in the German army during World War I who did not like the way things were going under Hitler.
“When everyone else became lemmings and let him go, [Schneider] stood up and fought him,” Johnson said. “And when they went to his church and put the Nazi symbols up he ripped them down right in front of them, put his Christian symbols back up and said, ‘You’re not going to do that in my town.’ They put him in jail, slapped him around a bit, then brought him back.
The second time the Nazis tried, again, Schneider defied them openly.
“The third time was the charm, the third time that big Nazi propaganda machine led by Herr Joseph Goebbels himself came in,” Johnson said. “For the third time he defied them openly and ripped their symbols down and said, ‘You’re not going to do this in my town,’ and he was sent to Buchenwald where he was executed by lethal injection.”
When it came time for Schneider’s funeral at the church, 4,000 people showed up to honor him. They came even though the Nazis had posted that only deacons, family and members of the church could attend.
“The correct path, that’s the path that Paul Schneider took, when he openly defied Nazi Germany at the expense of his own life because he dared to take the hard right,” Johnson said.
Johnson said though sometimes people are scared to make the hard decisions in life because we are afraid we might hurt people’s feelings. Even if they do, we have to make them anyways.
Jake Akehurst, manager of Student Activities and Leadership Development, said Johnson has been a part of the Cavalier Development Leadership Program since its inception in fall 2007.
“Over the course of that time frame I’ve come to know him professionally and personally as a great speaker and motivator,” Akehurst said. “We thought, ‘Let’s open this up to the community, to give them the opportunity to hear him speak and promote the leadership campaign.’ He has a real gift and passion for connecting people.”
The leadership program is open to all students of the college on Thursdays from 12:30-1:45. No formal application is needed to attend, but a minimum 2.0 GPA is required. Topics that students will discuss include how to plan a meeting, public speaking and strength finding to help students gain confidence.
From all his years as a Green Beret and the adventures he has had, Johnson said his most memorable experience was simply when a plan came together.
“The best moments have to be when you plan for extremely dangerous and hazardous missions, that mission goes successfully, you survive it, you walk away and none of your people get hurt, you can’t get any better than that,” he said.
Johnson served for 20 years as a Green Beret in over 50 nations, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel when he retired in 2000. Johnson has also been awarded the bronze star for his actions during the Gulf War and has received the Parachutist badge from 14 other nations. He has also authored two books, “How to Get Anyone to Follow You Anywhere: Green Beret Secrets to Leadership and Team Building” and “Lessons in Leadership: Straight Talk from a Green Beret.”
Contact David Hurtado, reporting correspondent, at dhurtado@jccc.edu.