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S6.E7 - Gates of Fire - Book 7
28 Plays1 month ago
Garrett leads our discussion of Book 7: “Leonidas” from Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of The Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield.
- Stehlin provides a brief recap of the Book Brothers’ first annual retreat! Stay tuned for a full recap episode of the retreat (0:38 - 2:55)
- Recap of Book 7 (2:56 - 8:54)
- What are you called to do in life that your family and friends can help you live out until your death? (8:55 - 19:19)
- What do you want to be true of yourself and this group of friends that will be passed down and learned from 2,000 years from now? (19:20 - 26:49)
- What’s an example of something a country like the United States could accomplish if communities, cities, and states came together in a united cause the same way the Hellas city-states came together? (26:50 - 35:55)
Next week we’ll discuss Book 8: “Thermopylae” (pages 357 - 384).
You can buy the book on Amazon by clicking here.
You can also borrow it at your local library. Don’t have a library card, or unsure where your local library is? Search on Google Maps, or find your local library by clicking here.
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Email us at connect@booksbrotherspodcast.com
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See you next week! Until then - read, reflect, and connect.
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Transcript
Introduction to Leonidas
00:00:41
Speaker
This week, we'll be discussing book seven, Leonidas.
Retreat Recap Announcement
00:00:46
Speaker
But before we get into the book, I did want to call out This is our first recording after our Books Brothers first annual retreat.
Retreat Highlights and Learnings
00:00:58
Speaker
We are going to do a special episode recording, recapping the retreat in full. Some of the things that we applied from books that we've read previously in the past year and a half on the podcast and some of the fun we had and takeaways, but
00:01:16
Speaker
Adam, since you spent such a great amount of time and did such a great job planning and executing the retreat and all the details, can you just give like a one-minute recap teaser on where we went, what we did, and some of the high-level, the the best part about the retreat?
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks Garrett. Yeah. So, uh, for the retreat, the guys came out to the great state of Arizona, spent a little time in Phoenix, then headed up to the Grand Canyon where we did a rim to river to rim hike. So it was around 20 miles, uh, with about 5,000 feet of elevation gain and, uh, just a fun, fun physical challenge with, uh, with some close friends. And I mean, I feel like there's nothing better that then you can get from that, from a mental standpoint, for a physical standpoint. And so just a super fun time to spend time with guys catch up.
00:02:08
Speaker
We had realized I think it was at like Rob's bachelor party two and a half years ago. You kind of run out of those excuses to get together and spend time together after the weddings are kind of starting to slow down as you're getting older. And so we've always kind of sought a need to.
00:02:23
Speaker
continue those times where you spend time together and just have like ah a guys weekend. And so this was a really fun way to do it. A lot of physical challenge, its great conversations, and yeah, looking forward to sharing more at a later date. Absolutely. Thanks, Salem. Yeah. If you are interested in hearing more and learning more about the retreat, and we encourage you with your friends to do that as well, feel free to tune in in a couple of weeks and we're going to recap it in full.
Main Themes of Leonidas
00:02:53
Speaker
All right, now on to the book. Book seven, Leonidas. I want everyone to do their best to think of Gerard Butler. Think of him right now and then discard that image and don't think of it ever again for the rest of this conversation. I was thinking of him in PS. I love you.
00:03:16
Speaker
yeah Yeah, whatever image you think of Leonidas, try to discard that image.
Secret Spartan Mission
00:03:23
Speaker
This book paints a much more amazing picture of Leonidas. And I'm going to recap this book now and get into some excellent, what I feel like are excellent questions. I'm probably biased because I am seeing the episode. I do imagine that Leonidas in this book would have six pack abs like in the movie.
00:03:46
Speaker
Okay, imagine someone like Gerard Butler who's not Irish trying to impersonate an American accent as a Greek. He's a jacked Okay, so the book, it details the actual raid of Xerxes camp and their attempt to secretly assassinate Xerxes.
00:04:08
Speaker
So in in the context of the Spartans, they're not going to retreat, so they either need to win the battle or die trying. And being so vastly outnumbered, as we've discussed, one way to win this battle is to cut off the figurative head of the snake, which is Xerxes.
00:04:25
Speaker
In this book, rooster, the, you know, person who has a whole book titled after him earlier in a previous episode, you can learn more about him. He returns. He has fled the Persian camp. So he was released.
00:04:41
Speaker
from the Spartans to fight in
Raid Chaos and Retreat
00:04:44
Speaker
the Persian army. He actually flees there, has a change of heart, and he comes to the Spartans and once again avoids execution and says, hey, I know where Xerxes camp is and a secret way to get there for us to kill him.
00:05:01
Speaker
they decide to trust rooster they go on this epic climb in the mountains hike through the night and again they're injured diana keys has lost an eye all these things they eventually make it to the camp so rooster holds true to his word and successfully navigates them to where xerxes is staying So imagine a very intense night raid. Lots of people are killed in their sleep. A lot of Persians are assembled to battle haphazardly in a daze. And in this story, the Spartans almost get to Xerxes. But just as they're lining up in their battle formation to do one final charge against the few soldiers that are between them and Xerxes,
00:05:43
Speaker
A bunch of, I guess he brought exotic birds from all over the world of his conquests with him. They all like fly into the air and just like cause mass chaos. The book describes it that these birds more or less save Xerxes life because they disrupt the battle formations.
00:06:02
Speaker
So what that does is that causes chaos on the Spartan side and almost everyone dies except a handful of Spartans. And speaking of handful, Alexandros gets his hand chopped off. Diana keys calls then for a retreat with the dying and injuries.
00:06:19
Speaker
The Spartans do escape and you're probably thinking, how is that even possible? Well, this isn't 2024 where there's led lights everywhere. This is in the middle of nowhere. It's dark and the Spartans basically take their clothing off, identifying them as Spartans. And so they blend in with everyone else. There's a ton of different nation states from all over the world that Xerxes is captured and commissioned to fight for him. So people don't really recognize them when they're not in their Spartan gear.
00:06:49
Speaker
So they end up soliciting some other people for help. They help cauterize Alexandro's hand and try to get him healthy. It doesn't work. He actually dies. Very sad. But Diana Keys, Suicide, Paula Nikes, Ziones and Rooster do survive the raid. They retreat into the darkness, back through the mountains and make it back to camp.
Leonidas' Final Stand Speech
00:07:14
Speaker
So with the failed attempt to assassinate Xerxes, Leonidas realizes, all right, we're going to have to fight to our death. And he releases the other Greek city state armies who have come to return home. They've held up their end of the bargain. They have successfully held off the Persians long enough to allow the greater Greek armies to mobilize. So the Spartans stay.
00:07:39
Speaker
as well as the thespians, the thespians, they reject Leonidas's order and fight alongside them. For roosters, active redemption and heroism, Leonidas grants roosters Spartan freedom, which if you recall, that is a big deal.
00:07:59
Speaker
and not something that Rooster should take lightly, and Rooster does decide to return home because he's a helot, so he's allowed to return home because he's not Spartan. The Spartans stay. Leonidas also tells the Spartans squires, again, they're not Spartan descent. They're granted their freedom. They can leave, although many stay, including Ziones, by their master's side.
00:08:26
Speaker
The book finishes with an open mic of sorts where Leonidas opens the floor to all of the soldiers and men who are still alive, who will fight in this one last battle. They give one final word, one final hoorah speech to the group prior to the fight leading to their eventual death.
Reflections on Purpose and Meaning
00:08:48
Speaker
All right, so let's talk about the book.
00:08:51
Speaker
To me, Leonidas' speech was most moving to me on page 353. I'm actually going to read it word for word because it's pretty awesome. And he's basically saying, guys, I know we you're probably thinking, why is everyone else retreating but us?
00:09:09
Speaker
and He says if we had withdrawn from these gates today brothers no matter what prodigies of valor we had performed up till now this battle would have been perceived as a defeat a defeat which would have confirmed for all Greece that which the enemy most wishes her to believe the futility of resistance to the Persian and his millions if we had saved our skins today One by one the separate cities would have caved in behind us until the whole of Hellas had fallen. Leonidas and the Spartans knew what they were called to do and they chose to live it out and it was just a really moving speech there. What do you guys feel you're called to do that your families and your brothers can help you live out until your death?
00:09:59
Speaker
It's a deep question and I like it. That's the idea. My mind goes back to man's search for meaning. So whatever your meaning in life is, and it's different for everyone, I think that could answer the question. For me personally, devotion to my faith, family, and friends,
00:10:25
Speaker
I think that's what I'm called to do. I feel meaning in that. I have purpose in that. That's why I am where I am right now. That's why I work. That's why I try to become a better person and having friends, having brothers who are aware of that, who know me, they can help me grow as a person and help me to live out that meaning of my life.
00:10:55
Speaker
You guys, for example, you guys are great. Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I wouldn't say this is like this is our one life goal and nothing else is going to get in our way of doing it. But something that Brooke and I are passionate about is her career, specifically with the scholarship she received and now is working to pay that off by working at through the Indian Health Service.
00:11:24
Speaker
And marginalized communities ah matter to us and being a playing a part in helping alleviate the burden that our own ancestors have put on them, driving them out of their homes, things like that.
00:11:41
Speaker
and some of the generational trauma that has tripled into some of the generational health issues that they're experiencing. And Brooke being able to be a part of helping people become healthy and well, not just kids, but their families. And while I'm not in the medical profession, being her partner and supporting her, taking on perhaps more responsibilities with raising our own kids so that she can focus on her career more things like that is something that we align on and is important to us. That might change over time, not the desire to serve others, but we may not you know see ourselves in Oklahoma forever and her working with that specific community forever because there's needs all over the world that we might choose to pursue um serving in.
00:12:36
Speaker
but It's something that for right now is something that's on our mind and is a mission that we're attentive to. I don't necessarily know how incorporating the guys like you all, but I will say having solid friendships with other men is very healthy, whether you're single or married.
Legacy and Societal Contributions
00:12:56
Speaker
you can't rely on your spouse to fill your cup. And over the years, she's been very preoccupied with her profession. So I've had to have my cup filled through other relationships. And so almost by default, this group, the other men in my life have been extremely encouraging for me and just having that fellowship and camaraderie and, and, um, support through friendship. Yeah, that's good.
00:13:26
Speaker
like it. I would say I'm called, I feel called on a pretty regular basis to be someone that can listen to other people's pain and kind of be able to empathize with it.
00:13:36
Speaker
and just help other people with their mental health. It just seems like every day that I've lived after my suicide attempt, I've seen like, oh, that's why I'm still here. Oh, that's why I'm still here. Oh, that's why I'm still here. It's like I used to think like it's going to be this big thing, but it's like the more that time stacks up, it's like we probably wouldn't even be doing this. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's definitely something I feel called to do just from having such so much personal experience in that and wanting to prevent other people from feeling that kind of pain. And that's definitely something I feel really very called to do. And I don't like doing it in a job, but I'm doing it
00:14:20
Speaker
On a day-to-day basis, you know, with people that I talk to, little conversations day-to-day that you have with different people at clinics and just kind of things that get brought up, you know, being authentic. And yeah, and then obviously kind of leaning on you guys as support, as another support system is huge for my personal mental health. Getting to do the retreat that we did was like so epic.
00:14:45
Speaker
You know, uh, yeah, I don't know. It's not like it's a cause that I'm going to, it's like, does it really make any sense? Like cause that I'm going to like die for, like the Spartans are here, but, um, that its that on I know, right.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah. But I think they talk about suicide in this, like it's honorable or whatever. Like they used to, some people used to think that. Well, because the character's name is suicide. They talk about how he, for whatever reason, was cast out as like a criminal or some of that from his people. And so when he came to the Spartans, he asked them to take his life. And that was like how he came to that name. And I can't remember, there was like a redemption component to it. And I don't recall what it was. Do any of you guys recall what it was?
00:15:31
Speaker
I think he was Olympiases. So Alexandra's dad Olympiases Squire. And from what I recall, he did some pretty like unbelievable feats on the battlefield, saving Olympiases and like taking down a few people on horseback, like stuff you'd actually see dramatized fictionally in movies. It sounds like he was that guy in real life. I mean, obviously in this book.
00:15:58
Speaker
I think it's great, though, Fles, and i think I mean, I definitely see you doing that and it gets cool to see you be encouraging in those ways in an area, you know, it's like some people. It seems like if they've got that background, it's like not something they ever want to talk about, share about again. So I think it's awesome that you feel passionate about it. See, I would say for me, like the calling side. So, you know, Matt, you hit on faith. I think all of us would probably hit on faith to some component. You know, I think, I think of the verse about being my brother's keeper. And I think that's one that I've become increasingly passionate about in the last five, six years. And so I think particularly as it centers around like marriage and the family.
00:16:35
Speaker
And that's something that I feel like I feel very passionate about connecting with other guys. And I mean, we've all talked about this, but in Adam, it's kind of comes back to like what you're hitting on is like, I feel like there's a lot of loneliness within men. I think particularly, I think a lot of it starts maybe in like mid to late 20s, and then it kind of continues on. And like almost in pop culture, it's satirized and and made to be comical that like the dad is just without emotions.
00:17:03
Speaker
But I think that's sad. And and I think that being a well-rounded, healthy person is something I've become really passionate about in men having a feeling as though they connect with others. And I think I've seen for myself, anytime I've come across someone, met someone who is open to share a little bit about some like marital conflict they're having, that kind of thing, that's something that I always really passionate to kind of dive into. And just earlier this week, I met with a guy who He had shared just a little bit. You kind of know when there's more. And so he had shared just a little bit where I was like, Hey, let's like get coffee. Let's talk about that. It's cool experience. And I mean, that's something where it's like, I feel
00:17:42
Speaker
I feel led to and I think like the, what can we do to help our brothers live out that purpose, right? um Am I getting that right? Yeah. I think with that, it's like you'd hope that if you're kind of like fostering those communities and if you're like building those communities that like then those communities would then be more whole and be able to like contribute to you as well. And so but that's like the reason you're doing it, but it's to realize that like when you help others, when you serve, when you give, it makes people want to serve themselves.
00:18:11
Speaker
That's great. Yeah, I think you do a great job of that, Stanley, just that brothers keeper. And I guess just to round out this question and ah before moving on, I think that's something that through the years I've grown and and valuing. I think in college, I knew a lot of people.
00:18:28
Speaker
Topically like on the surface had moderate influence and several different clubs you know crew or the fraternity year. Run for homecoming king or whatever and i thought of like preachers who were super successful in their platforms and.
00:18:47
Speaker
There's so much value in just disciplining the man next to you or helping you know that that proverb of your friends staying close with him and a brother and coming to really value this group of you know we're like we've talked about We're not on social media a lot, so you can't always see what we're doing, and that's not what it's about. It's about your sphere of influence that you have and that you're part of, and making impact there is just as valuable. All right, on the last page of this book,
00:19:19
Speaker
Leonidas talks about people coming to visit Thermopylae someday to learn about what the Spartans did. And he even uses times 2,000, 3,000 years later. And he says in quotes, men 100 generations yet unborn. That really stuck out to me because we're reading the book in 2024. So it was about 2,500 years after this took place.
Impact of Societal Trends
00:19:44
Speaker
So oftentimes, at least for me, we often think of the present day and our very direct descendants, like our own kids. But what do you all want to be true of yourself? And we'll just, you know, Spartan, the Spartans are very communal based. So let's talk about it as a group. What do you want to be true of yourself and us that is passed down and learned from 2000 years from now?
00:20:11
Speaker
The previous amount of time I've heard was, what do you want true 300 years from now? And I'm like, 300 years? And then this book upped the ante to 2,000 to 3,000 years. And so what are things like we do now that people could look on in 2,000 years and take from? That has to, it can't just be us or like me. It has to be all of us. Oh, it can be you. However you want to answer the question.
00:20:37
Speaker
ah yeah I was talking to Sarah about this question actually before I jumped on and I was like, I'm going to be known as the strongest listener to have ever lived like by far.
00:20:48
Speaker
She's like, well, what if you have a son? And I'm like, Oh crap, you're right. He might be stronger. Just the next generation. I think the cynic in me thinks like, Oh, two, 3000 years from now, it's not going to be as much about the individual unless you were great, but it's going to be like how the society was. Right. And I think men from our current society would be viewed in two to 3000 years from now in a lot of ways.
00:21:16
Speaker
could be very disappointing and also like not what I wouldn't want to be aligned with. And so I think for me with this question, it's kind of hard to like get outside of like, we just know the famous people right from 23,000 years ago. So it is harder to like think about what it looks like to have your own personal legacy that lasts so long. like I would say, you know, again, you mentioned them 300 years and makes it a little bit more tangible feeling. And I think my thought would be just related around the family of you know you spend your most time with your your family than anyone and so like I would like to think that like still
00:21:53
Speaker
like, generationally, you know, Adam you mentioned, Flesner's, and it's like, I would think, like, I think, generationally, that like, Stalans would still be around, and they'd be, you know, the Stalan families would be loving, kind, gracious, compassionate, essentially being like, like Jesus. Those would be like some of my main hopes and desires. I think outside of the context of thinking about just like my personal family, it's harder to see my personal influence in the future, though.
00:22:19
Speaker
Hey, the Spartans are are remembered for the 300 and the larger battle and war they fought. So yeah, Leonidas is remembered. But when I was doing some research on this, a lot of other people aren't confirmed to be like, we don't know a ton of people's names from what I understand. They're my quick Wikipedia. Matt, what do you you have any thoughts? Yeah, I do.
00:22:47
Speaker
So we've been going through revelation in our church the last several weeks, and we've been really doing it kind of a deep dive into the seven churches from Revelation two and three. And those churches are about 2000 years old. And so it just got me thinking if we could be remembered for something kind of like those churches, I would want it to be the good things. One of the key themes is patient endurance.
00:23:15
Speaker
and faithfulness and staying true to Jesus. So if we could be remembered as a society, that's not gonna happen. If we could be remembered for those things that we were faithfully, patiently enduring for Christ, that'd be pretty cool. People could learn from us good things, bad things about this time and this era. And if it could be said that we endured and we didn't waver in our faith I think that would be the most, the most exciting thing as a collective society personally. so like And then for me, I think it'd be really cool to keep my mom's family name going. So I think you all know my mom's maiden name, Hulun, after her generation is not going to be passed down anymore. And it's really sad to me. It's only a two generation name and we're really proud of it. We really like it. There's a lot of,
00:24:15
Speaker
Very hard, but cool family history with that name. And I would like to see it passed on. Love it. You guys have a lot of good things. You know, it doesn't seem like big deals right now, but.
00:24:30
Speaker
it It is interesting to me thinking of other books we've read like Anxious Generation or Blue Zones or The Comfort Crisis and we kind of joke like have you seen that that movie Wally, that Pixar movie?
00:24:45
Speaker
one of the best movies ever made. It is actually packed. We're like, eventually people can't even like walk.
Historical Remembrance
00:24:51
Speaker
It's objective truth that that's the best movie of all time. There you go. It's like, yeah, in some way it almost feels like we're heading that way, right? Where eventually we're going to become so comfortable. We're just going to sit in floating chairs and physically our bodies will atrophy and not be able to walk.
00:25:10
Speaker
And I think of things like anxious generation and wait until eighth. That doesn't seem like a Leonidas Spartan thing to fight for, but you know, one of the books that we were considering reading for season seven was about the declining, uh, fertility rates and how like is humanity going to survive if like we're on the path of like having less and less children. And at least in the United States.
00:25:40
Speaker
And I do wonder, looking back, it's like, hey, there was a group of people, the church, this book club, whatever, that decided to not give their kids cell phones until eighth grade or whatever it is.
00:25:57
Speaker
and their kids developed in a way. and you know like We find out all this continued science through the years or hey people continue to have shorter and shorter attention spans and become more and more isolated. and These guys decided to buck that trend and spend long form time together and talk to each other about how they're actually doing.
00:26:20
Speaker
Who knows? It seems kind of trivial and almost funny to say, but I think we also are very fortunate because I don't think this is normal what we do for the vast majority of men in our larger society.
00:26:32
Speaker
so Who knows? It's fun to think about though, because ah I agree. I feel a little cynical to my 3000 years, 2000 years. Come on. It's like, well, we're talking about the Spartans. You know, I'm reading the story of Abraham to my kids. It's like some people are remembered 2000 3000 years later. It's a thing.
Character Development and Unity
00:26:53
Speaker
Okay. Last question about book seven.
00:26:58
Speaker
I wanted to focus in on Paul and Nike's. So Paul and Nike's is known earlier in the book about just kind of being this, like I would equate him to a present day, like football meathead almost where the the guy in the gym who's always trying to set the new PR just wants to run through a brick wall just to say that he can. And he thinks he's just bigger and stronger than everyone.
00:27:20
Speaker
and he gives this speech and there's been moments throughout this book where I end the previous books where he seems to like you see a little bit more there's more to Paul and Nike's than meets the eye and he kind of breaks he literally like breaks down and cries a little bit during his speech you know the last hoorah and he gives his shield to a thespian which is a very big deal, if you recall earlier in the book, and he's moved by them because they voluntarily chose to stay and fight. So the Spartans, they're they're raised to do this, to literally die on the battlefield, but other Greek city-states aren't that way. So he was moved by them.
00:28:01
Speaker
He ends his speech and each city state they just kind of like exchange shields and cloaks with one another and it's just kind of this moving scene where. There greeks but they are from different parts of the nation.
00:28:17
Speaker
And they just have this really bonding moment. And we're recording this the day after the presidential election. And I have not i don't watch a lot of the news, but I can only imagine the conversations we've had just on this call or before we started recording that.
00:28:35
Speaker
People can feel very strongly about the results of the elections and the news can make us feel like we're extremely divided as a country.
Lessons for American Society
00:28:43
Speaker
And so I just thought of this moment of Paul and Nike's speech and the exchanging of their most precious item, their shield and their cloak, which is their identity.
00:28:54
Speaker
What's a specific example of something, you know we live in America, so let's use that example. What's a specific example of something Americans could accomplish or achieve, like the stand at the hot gates if various cities, states, et cetera, came together in a similar way? like What do you think that would look like?
00:29:17
Speaker
as as you kind of As you're sharing this the story from the book and then relating it to our current world, I think that like the example of what he's doing is he's essentially humbling himself in that scenario. He's kind of laying laying down or you know serving someone else, putting us someone else in for him before him.
00:29:34
Speaker
And it's something that I think I've talked with about some of you guys before about how I think the... I'll go just to like the the last presidential debate where there was accusations against each candidate where they're like, you said this this long, this X amount of time ago, or you said this and... The response is always something along the lines of kind of avoiding the question or steering their answer back to why I said that because this is what I was meaning because of these issues. Basically, they're still they're kind of like doubling down and standing firm in something that they said or did that maybe wasn't as good, maybe wasn't as moral, wasn't as loving, compassionate, you know whatever you call it. But one thing that I i remember just watching that and thinking
00:30:20
Speaker
it's like I really wish that there is more humility, and I really wish that the idea of like someone stepping forward and saying, like hey, I was wrong, I used to think this, but now I think this, I think differently because I've had a life experience and I learned, and I learned that you know through that, that um I was seeing things incorrectly. So I preface like your question, like getting to the answer to say, like I think that the issue, if you take this back, is that the idea of admitting wrong is viewed as such a bad thing right now being humble is viewed as weak
00:30:58
Speaker
saying you used to believe something that was incorrect, it almost puts yourself in a dangerous position because you're like, oh, you weren't always acting morally sound or you know you weren't always standing firm in truth. And so I preface with that basically to to respond to say, I think that for Americans And again, that's just our frame of references as we live. I think that there needs to be some component of like increased humility, compassion for that person. I think that with that, I think of like some of like the the certain policies or rhetoric around things where people, for the most part, when they they believe in a certain value of something, they're they're viewing it or a certain way to handle something, like a way to handle um homelessness or way to handle drug problems.
00:31:49
Speaker
most for the most part, people are, their end goal is good. They want there to be less drug problems, but the way that they get there is different. And that's what we fight over and that kind of thing. And so I think really it's just the, and maybe the example that I'm coming to with this is like a trying to truly see that what others others who don't think the same thing as you, they might want the same goal. They might have the same compassion that's that that other person has that thinks the totally opposite thing should be done. And so um I think with that, I think it seems like we get more progress done if we kind of come to a sense of
00:32:35
Speaker
We want to help this problem. We want to solve this problem. And why? And I want to solve it this way. I want to solve it this way. well let's I think it's kind of coming to the page of like identifying the problems and identifying, like kind of leading with, like we both want to solve this problem or we see this as a problem. um And so I think it's really more open communication with people who have different thoughts. I was in a conversation today with someone who We had differing thoughts on one of the political issues and she said something ah along the lines of like, I really hope this doesn't offend you. And I was like, Hey, like you can think whatever you want to think. Like I'd prefer if we're just able to talk about it. And I think that's something that, and I don't mean to like virtue signal for myself, but I think if we can all come to things and be able to converse more compassionately about these topics.
Challenges of Unity in the U.S.
00:33:28
Speaker
Matter of fact, you got anything to add?
00:33:30
Speaker
I think that was really well said, Adam. It's hard for me to imagine what could be accomplished if everyone was united in this way. I agree. Like really hard. I can't think of anything because never really seen it happen other than, you know, on this fictional story. I can't see the United States coming together as one, even if,
00:33:56
Speaker
We're on the brink of destruction. I still think people are going to be divisive, too proud and have differing thoughts. What about times when it's happened, though? But it's typically war and things like that are attacks on the country, which is very similar to the Spartan situation. And where we live geographically on the planet is shields us from a prescription drug prices would be lower right now.
00:34:26
Speaker
Hey, place a placement. had' seen before Have you heard a pool on big D drugs and we've done analytics right on. So Fluzz, you have anything to add on that?
00:34:48
Speaker
No, I don't really know what else to add to that. I mean, if we all came together as a country, maybe we'd do better at disaster relief and figuring out healthcare. care and Mental health, I think would be a big one. Yeah.
00:35:04
Speaker
A lot of mental health is what people do to each other, right? You'd like to think that we would be able to figure out some of the big things, but I wonder if we were still what or not. I don't know. I heard it well said once, and I think it's true that an average person probably actually aligns on, I'm feeling like 70% makes sense, but I feel like he even said 90%. So it aligns on 90% of things in life.
00:35:32
Speaker
But yeah, we focus on the 10%. Oh yeah. Yeah. So it's like, you can think of like across religions, across whatever it's like, most people want healthy, safe families and a house to live under. You know, like there's a lot of common ground we actually have, but we focus on the, the ends of the differences, the curve, the bell curve or whatever.
00:35:55
Speaker
Thanks for listening to this week's episode