by Andy Andrews
“As time was running out here, I remembered another moment in my life when time was running out. It was at Little Round Top, Gettysburg—July 2nd, 1863—when the enemy was coming up the hill for what would surely be the last time. My men—three hundred that morning, at this point shot down to eighty—were out of ammunition.
“My first thought was to hunker down behind the wall and wait. I must confess that with all the heroism talk about me that has gone on since that day—at that moment, I did not know what to do. So, in effect, I was about to give an order . . . to do nothing.
“At that very instant, a voice roared in my head. Until I arrived here, I always considered the voice to have been a result of battle trauma or an overactive imagination. But the voice yelled the words twice.” Chamberlain paused abruptly, thinking hard, and added, “Yes, the voice yelled the words twice . . . just like I did a few minutes ago.
“The voice—now I know it was Gabriel—shouted the tiny phrase with an accent first on one word, then the other. ‘Do something,’ he said. Then, ‘Do something!’ So I did. I pulled my sword, stood up on the wall, and ordered my men to charge.
“The rest, of course, you know. You were there.” He shrugged. “The enemy threw down their weapons and ran. We had eighty men, and in three minutes we had captured four hundred of them.”
Chamberlain shook his head in amazement. “Now I’ve heard all the stories about what happened because of that particular charge. Historians say that without our charge, the South would have won at Gettysburg. If the South had won there, they would have won the war, and it would’ve been over by the end of the summer.
“Historians say that had the South won, there would’ve eventually been several countries spread across the North American continent. And had that been the case, when Hitler swept across Europe in the 1940s, there would not have been a United States of America to stand in the breach. When Hirohito invaded the islands of the Pacific, there wouldn’t have been a united anything, much less a country big enough and strong enough to fight two wars on two fronts at the same time for the protection of the rest of the world.”
Chamberlain lifted his eyebrows and smiled humbly. “And don’t pat me on the back for any of it. I’m just as amazed as anyone. In a nutshell, all that I just described happened because, when I did not know what to do, I did something.”
Franklin spoke up. Still keeping an eye on the hourglass, he said, “Well, the sand stopped when he said those words.” Everyone looked at each other as if to gauge reaction. Franklin said, “David?”
Looking to Lincoln, David asked, “Should we talk this out now or call Gabriel and talk it out in front of him?”
Lincoln looked at the hourglass, thinking, and finally said. “Let’s call the archangel.”
Before doing so, David informed the others and added, “Just stay where you are, or if you’d like to join us on the floor, please feel free to do so.” He smiled. “We might as well break all the rules! By the way,” he added, “if you have anything at all to say on this subject when he gets in here, do so. Let’s leave nothing unsaid.”
With agreement, determination, and anticipation on every face he could see, David said loudly, “I am ready with the answer!”
Without delay, the door swung open and Gabriel walked in. He had a deep frown on his face. “What is this?” he asked, stopping in front of David.
“We are ready with the answer, Gabriel,” David said again.
“You have already used your five opportunities, David Ponder.”
David lifted his chin. “Gabriel,” he said, “with great respect, I ask you to please consider carefully what I am about to say. This will only take a moment.” Without waiting for the archangel to acknowledge his request or to say whether he would or would not listen, David forged ahead.
“Sir,” David said, “you told us at the beginning that we must fight with the weapons of wisdom and persuasion. I am not sure how much wisdom I have, but right now,” he said with a smile, “I am mustering as much persuasion as I can.”
David waited for Gabriel to smile in return. He did not.
“Gabriel,” David said, “you told us that you alone were the arbiter of this summit. As the arbiter, you can decide whether or not we are able to present you with this answer. At one point earlier, I asked you if there was anything we could do to turn humanity back. Sir, you answered, ‘Until it is too late, it is never too late.’” David pointed to the hourglass. “Gabriel,” he pleaded with conviction, “it is not too late.”
With the barest hint of a smile, the archangel responded, “I will hear your arguments, followed by your final answer. I will reserve judgment on the admissibility of any of it until you are finished. At that point, it will be too late.”
“Great,” David said, trying not to show the relief he felt. “Thank you.” Turning to Chamberlain, he prompted, “Joshua, why don’t you get us started.”
Stepping forward a bit, Chamberlain began. “Gabriel, I believe that when one doesn’t know what to do, he should do something. At that moment of panic or discouragement, one cannot do everything, but he can do something. Will doing something change the world? I believe that this is what you meant when you said, ‘It is the only thing that ever has.’” Chamberlain stepped back.
Lincoln raised his hand and spoke. “After the war, our nation’s economy was in a shambles. It seemed that a full quarter of the population was out of work. No one, Gabriel, knew what to do. Most, of course, complained about the situation, about the war, and about me. In effect, I saw that they were complaining about the present, the past, and a person they did not know, who presumably held their job prospects in his hands.
“One afternoon, I was walking around Washington . . . ” Lincoln turned to one of the more recent U.S. presidents who was standing nearby and added, “Some of us used to do that, you know.” There were several chuckles from the audience. Seeing no response from Gabriel, Lincoln continued. “So there I was, walking with Mary, and a group of men approached us.
“These men were, they said, desperate for work. No jobs, they said. They told me they had tried everything. I asked what they did when they weren’t looking for work. One man told me he stayed at home when he wasn’t looking for work. Several men said they built a fire on a vacant lot and sat beside it. Two of them confessed they were so depressed that they had stopped seeking jobs at all.”
Lincoln frowned for a moment, then opening his eyes widely, he said, “I didn’t know what to tell them. I didn’t know what to do, but this is what I said: ‘Men,’ I told them, ‘you simply cannot sit around wasting your unused time. Continue to look for work, but in the time you have left, do something. Anything.’
“I said to them, ‘The challenge I see in your eyes is that you have forgotten the value you possess as a human being. You have forgotten the value with which the Almighty created you. So what value do you have?’ I pointed to one of them. ‘You there,’ I said. ‘Can you read?’ and he indicated that he could. ‘Then find someone who can’t, and read to them. Read to the blind, the elderly, the illiterate. Do something!’
“To another I said, ‘You look very strong. Can you carry things?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Then find people who need things carried, and do it! Men, listen carefully,’ I said. ‘I am not suggesting you find someone who needs weeds pulled and ask if you can pull them for a dollar. No! I am saying go out into your communities, find weeds that need pulling . . . and pull them!
“‘I believe that you men will see amazing things happen in your lives. As you do something, you will renew your belief in yourselves. You will remember again the value that you really have as human beings. And another, perhaps more important thing will occur. Others will begin to see value in you. No longer will you be the desperate person, the sad person, the out-of-work person.
“‘As people watch you—and they always do—they will begin to say, “Have you noticed that fellow who is always reading for people? Have you seen the man who is always carrying things for oth
ers? Have you spotted the boy who is always fixing things for folks, who is always helping?” Men, I say to you now that as others watch, they will begin to place a value on you they never had before.’
“I winked at them and said, ‘And you know what happens to people of value, don’t you? They gain opportunities; they get help; they receive job offers. Why? Because they did something when they didn’t know what to do.’”
Lincoln ended with, “I kept track of those men, and all did well with the concept. Three of them, curiously, managed to find a way to work for free for the companies with whom they had wanted to be employed. They figured that if they made themselves valuable, as a job came open, the company wouldn’t look outside to hire. They figured—correctly, it turned out—that the company would hire them, for they had proven their value. By doing something.”
Before Gabriel could take a breath, Franklin spoke up. “From our vantage point, we have watched humanity with concern for some time now. Mankind has become divided. That is obvious. Mankind is now divided culturally, racially, religiously, financially, and politically.
“There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when humanity’s leaders would argue points and philosophies, then retire to dinner together, laughing and inquiring as to the well-being of the other’s family. This no longer happens.
“It appears to me,” Franklin said as he glanced around to the others, “that people have retreated from their front porches only to build enclaves encircling singular points of view. So what might be the remedy to this particular challenge? I believe the remedy might just be what President Lincoln proposed to those men.
“Somehow, when we work side by side, differences don’t appear so distinct. The wealthy and the downtrodden become acquainted. Each gains new respect for the other’s position. Help and ideas begin to flow both ways.”
Winston jumped in. “‘Red and yellow, black and white’— as the old song goes—‘they are precious in His sight.’ If that is true, and of course you and I know now that it is, then humanity ought to bloody well act like it!
“Conservative Party and Labor, Republican and Democrat . . . Franklin is right. They have become divided. It is no longer about the country. It is about themselves. And the only cure is for humanity to care again. To come out of their homes and away from their fenced-in lives. It is time to do something.”
“There will be those,” Teddy Roosevelt said loudly, “who will always moan and complain about where they are. I say, ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are!’ Humanity must remember: almost everything comes from almost nothing! Do something, I say, and do it now.”
“‘Do it now’ is right!” shouted a female voice. It was Wilma Rudolph, the Olympic track star who had overcome childhood polio, measles, whooping cough, and scarlet fever to become one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century. “Success begins,” she said, “the moment we understand that success in anything is about beginning! Do something now!”
Thomas Jefferson said, “The question for each person to settle is not what he might do if he had the money, the influence, or the education, but ‘What will a person do with the things he has?’ To be discouraged about what you don’t have is to waste what you do have.” Jefferson looked at John Adams and George Washington, who were standing beside him. “We believe,” he said to Gabriel, “that this at last, sir, is the answer: ‘Do something.’”
Finally, the theater grew silent again. Everyone watched the archangel for some kind of reaction, but there was none. David said, “The question is, ‘What should humanity do, individually and collectively, in order to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?’ The answer at which we have arrived, sir, contains in whole, every other virtue that we previously discussed.
“What should humanity do? Something. The answer, Gabriel, is ‘Do something.’”
Gabriel stared hard into David’s eyes. Finally, he said, “Would it be possible for you to put this answer in the form of a declaration?”
“Yes,” David replied evenly. “Certainly we can.”
“Do it,” the archangel said and once again walked out without another word.
When Gabriel was gone and the door shut, everyone closed ranks. “I have the writing materials,” Franklin announced, holding aloft parchment and pen.
“Was that a yes or a no?” Eric asked. “A correct or an incorrect?”
“That was a ‘do it,’” Winston replied, “so let’s have at it. Or as we are now proclaiming, we shall do something!”
After working for over an hour, the group had a manageable draft. They read it aloud and worked it over again. At last, after three more drafts, they were satisfied with what they believed summed up the philosophy quite well. “This will be a document,” Lincoln stated, “that humanity, individually and collectively, will be able to read again and again. This will be our true legacy on earth: collected wisdom gathered into a single thought: ‘Do something.’”
Gabriel was called back into the theater, and upon his return, the archangel simply asked to hear what they had written. David read it for them all.
A PERSONAL DECLARATION
Knowing that all those who “arrive” have to begin where they are, I choose to begin now. At this moment, I will do something.
For too long, I have allowed fearful thoughts to dominate my life. Now I recognize fear as a misuse of the creative imagination that has been placed inside me. In the past, I have allowed fear to shove all hope aside. No more! Fear no longer has any power to stop me from doing what I know to be right and true. I am no longer afraid. I am courageous. Right now, I will do something.
The person who faces no hardships gains no strength. Though I do not look for hardship, I am grateful for its results, for I have grown mighty in soil mixed with troubles. My roots are now deep. My mind and heart have become powerful. A beautiful flower cannot be created without fertilizer. A dazzling gem cannot be polished without great friction. I have taken the fertilizer and the friction and am better because of it. Now it is time for me to do something.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I can do something right now. Never again will I allow what I cannot do to interfere with what I can do. Circumstances are rulers of the weak. I am not weak. Neither discouragement nor despair will stop me from doing something and doing it now. I am strong-minded. I can make myself do something I would rather not do, in order to get a result that I do want. I will do something. And I will do it now.
My life, which was once a question mark, is now a statement. Stormy seas do not scare me, for I am the calm in the storm. My past is behind me and my future is bright because I now know the secret of the present. I will do something and I will do it now.
Right now, I will do something for my family. Right now, I will do something for my friends. Right now, I will do something for those who do not even know my name. For my family, my friends, and the strangers of the world are valuable in my Creator’s sight. I will let them know that I recognize that fact by my actions. I now know that my smile, my words, and my attitude are actions. They are all under my control. I am prepared to run my race. I am ready to hit the mark. I will now do my part in restoring humanity to the pathway toward successful civilization.
I will do something. And I will do it right now.
When David finished, he took the parchment and folded it once, then again. Offering it to the archangel, he said, “The answer, Gabriel, is ‘Do something.’”
Gabriel held up his hands, palms toward David. Refusing the parchment, he said, “Do not give it to me, David Ponder. This is for humanity. Your answer is correct.”
EPILOGUE
You are home, David Ponder,” Gabriel said.
David opened his eyes and saw that, indeed, he was back at his desk in Dallas, in the penthouse office. Reaching for a pitcher that was always there, he offered some water to Gabriel, who refused, and then poured himself a full glass. While he drank deeply and attempted to overco
me the dizziness caused by his return, David’s mind raced. When did we leave? How long have I been gone? Did this really happen?
Of course, with an archangel in front of him, that was an easy question to answer.
“I took you during the celebration,” Gabriel said, as if reading his mind. “You did extraordinarily well, David Ponder.”
“Thank you, Gabriel,” David responded. “You were, at times, a tough guide.”
“How would you say it?” the archangel asked with a smile. “‘The winds of adversity fill the sails of accomplishment?’ That is a saying, David Ponder. An adage. A platitude. It is simply something one says to people so they will fight on even when things look hopeless.” David laughed and for the first time saw Gabriel do the same.
“Whew,” David said. “I am still dizzy.” Reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief, he removed instead a ball of paper. Tossing it into the wastebasket, David found his handkerchief in the other pocket.
Gabriel furrowed his brow. “What was that, David Ponder?” he asked. “What just went into the trash?”
David was so tired that he had to think for a minute to remember what the archangel was asking about. He looked into the trash can. “Oh,” he said. “I don’t know. Just trash that fell on the floor in the theater. Anne picked it up. No trash can there, so I put it in my pocket.”
“What is it?” the archangel asked again.
“Well, Gabriel,” David said, attempting to keep the impatience from his voice, “I told you that I don’t know.” He reached down into the wastebasket. Retrieving the wad of paper, he quickly unfolded it and looked. “Just numbers,” he said and handed it to Gabriel. “It looks like a math professor’s bad dream.”
The archangel took one look and shook his head irritably. He continued to read the page and shook his head again in quick little jerks. When he rolled his eyes, David said, “Okay. It’s my turn. What is it?”
“This stays with me,” Gabriel said and folded it into his robe.