Recently a good man who was tragic figure in American history died. While you may not know his name, you were impacted by a decision he made.

On December 7, 1941 Kermit Tyler was on his second day of manning the air traffic center at Fort Shafter in Hawaii.  A private on his first day of duty noticed some planes on the radar. He called Kermit Tyler, who was in charge, and told him what he had spotted on the on the radar. Kermit Tyler knew that the American private had very little experience and had likely only observed some American B-17s returning from an assignment.  So, rather than suggesting that the private review the radar more closely or that he should look at the radar screens himself, Kermit Tyler spoke the following four words: “Don’t worry about it.”

The rest is a tragic day in history, including 2,400 American military and civilian casualties as a result of an attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, and provoking the United States to enter World War II. While most believe that certainly it would have been too late to avoid the attack, the 30 minutes between the spotting of the planes on the radar and the beginning of bombing could have been used to reduce the number of casualties and to prepare a crippling or possibly finishing attack on the Japanese carriers from whence the attacking planes took off.  It would have changed the war significantly.  The war that resulted changed all of our lives, even those who were not as yet born.

Lieutenant Tyler lived with regret but so did the private who notified Tyler but failed to tell him that there were fifty planes on the radar screen.  Both failed to recognize what was important.

People of character know what is important.  Our principles are more important than our preferences. Far too often we spend time defending our preferences when they are under attack rather than our moral and spiritual principles.  Some people only have passion when their favorite sports team is unranked or under ranked and yet are completely oblivious that their principles are being bombarded with destructive principles by the movies they watch and the internet sites they surf.    They casually watch programs that seduce their fantasies and tell themselves, “Don’t worry about it,” only to later to realize their character has been blown out of the water.

Today, identify, live by, and defend you principles.

Characterpath.com
Gary Fenton

Watch Birmingham CBS 42 at 10:00 a.m. as Gary continues the Steps on the Character Path sermon series.