You know, human behaviour is interesting. There are many words we could use to describe the human race: intelligent, kind, evil, stupid, etc.
Every time we hear a story of a person or a group of people, we immediately, in our minds, place their behaviour into one or more of these descriptions. I think anyway.
Well, I recently chanced upon a story of a British officer during WW1, whose behaviour I can only describe as fascinating.
I’ll tell you this very interesting story and try to explain (lol) why he behaved the way he did, and why I can see a bit of him in me and almost everyone I meet.
At the start of the Great War (WWI), fighting broke out between Germany and France and, of course, the Brits sent a force called the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to support the French. Now this is where it gets interesting.
At the Battle of Mons, the BEF were caught in heavy fighting and eventually had to retreat. In the midst of this, a certain Captain Robert Campbell was caught and taken as a prisoner of war, to be held as a prisoner until the war came to an end.
As if that wasn’t tough enough, life did what it does to us all on a bad day and delivered some even more bad news. Captain Robert was told his mother was terminally ill and would soon die of cancer.
So, he did what any desperate man with a pair would do and wrote a letter to the German Emperor (Kaiser Wilhelm II), asking to visit his dying mother one last time in England, and gave his “word” that he would return to prison on his own.
The Emperor took him at his word and granted him leave.
Captain Campbell did go to see his mother and actually did return to prison in Germany.
Now, this puzzled me for so long, I had to do some research on this. What I found was interesting.
In times before, military command or leadership was almost entirely formed of men from aristocratic backgrounds who all shared a similar set of beliefs and traditions, one of which was called giving “your word of honour”. The French called it “Parole d’honneur”.
Side note: This is where the term parole comes from.
That tradition meant that if a man was to give his word, he would honour it no matter what.
My guess is that Captain Campbell not only shared that tradition but also held a deep identity of himself as a military officer that he could not betray, even if it meant losing his freedom in the 2nd most deadly war in all of human history.
Now, to a man who does not share that tradition or hold that self-identity, it is madness!
But to a man who does, it is common sense.
I think humans are deeply loyal to their beliefs and self-identity.
It’s why boxers keep on fighting past the point of deadly injury. It’s why those brave firefighters ran into the World Trade Center. It’s why young British and American men lied about their age to join the war front during the World Wars.
It’s also why homeless people sometimes refuse a home given to them by the state, or why some Japanese soldiers kept on fighting long after the war had ended.
It is also why no human ran a mile in under 4 minutes until Roger Bannister came along.
To end, I think it’s apt to reflect and look at our deeply held self-beliefs/identities as a means of trying to understand some of the illogical, seemingly odd behaviours we sometimes display.
That’s it for now, until next time : )