In the Marine Corps. I witnessed many strange and interesting rituals. Some of them made sense. Some of them didn't. But I like to think that I learned something from all of them. One of these rituals was the use of long, hard runs to celebrate good news. For example, if a new commanding officer came to the unit, the company Gunnery Sergeant might "celebrate" that fact by having everyone in the company take part in a 10-mile run. A route would be selected, unit flags would be unfurled, and a long line of sweaty, screaming jar heads would go running down the street, singing cadence every step of the way. This type of ritual doesn't make sense on the surface. Why were we celebrating by running until we puked? Why couldn't we play soft ball instead! That's a fair questions. But if I had to do it over again, I'd make sure we ran little faster, and a little farther during those runs. In the Marines, we didn't see good news as
by Sensei Alex Kakuyo