Steven Rogers posted on November 01, 2010 00:06
November 2010 Navy
by LCDR Steven Rogers
In this column, I wish to convey to you a story I recently read about a man and a violin. This story reveals much about commitment and success.
Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery, just as they ended their applause, that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second and, then, saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.
He felt paralyzed for a moment, then, turned to his audience and told them that there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that someone had stolen it and left that old secondhand one in its place. He remained behind the curtain for a moment, then came out before his audience and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul."
Paganini played as he had never played before; and out of that secondhand instrument, the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul.
This story moved me because, after reading it, I came to understand that those of us who have served and who are presently serving in the United States Navy have made this organization the greatest on earth, not only because of the aircraft, ships, subs, and the mighty power we have attained over the years, but also because deep in the heart, soul, and spirit of every American Sailor and Naval Officer is a dedication and commitment to patriotism and freedom unmatched in any other navy on the face of the earth.
Paraphrasing what Paganini noted, it is not the machines which make the Navy, but it is what flows from deep within the heart, soul and spirit of every member of the United States Navy that makes this the greatest navy on the face of the earth. This is a fact of which all of us who have served and who are serving today can be proud.
“I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think I can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: ‘I served in the United States Navy.’”
– President John F. Kennedy, 1 August 1963, in Bancroft Hall at the U. S. Naval Academy