On April 24, 1945, US President Harry Truman was informed about the development of a powerful and terrible bomb developed by brilliant physicists at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Later that day, President Truman wrote the following in his diary:
Stimson told me that he wanted me to know about an immense project that was underway–a project looking to the development of a new explosive of almost unbelievable destructive power. That was all he felt free to say at the time, and his statement left me puzzled. It was the first bit of information that had come to me about the atomic bomb, but he gave me no details
By August 6, 1945, a ‘very inefficient’ bomb dropped on Hiroshima instantly killing 70,000-80,000 people. In another three days, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. By August 15, the Emperor of Japan – Emperor Hirohito – gave his famous Jewel Voice Broadcast, where he announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies.
While the annals of history report that the atomic bomb forced Japan to surrender, this was not the case. Yes, the atomic bomb was the most powerful bomb seen at the time. However, the real reason why the Japanese forces surrendered was that the Soviets decided to join the war. Originally, the Japanese and Soviets had an agreement of not interfering with the other country’s affairs. This meant that the Japanese forces only had to concentrate their might on containing the US. This also explains why the Japanese leaders did not surrender after Hiroshima’s bombing on August 6.
However, when the news filtered that the Soviets had broken their end of the bargain, the Japanese realized that they were fighting on two fronts – with the US and with the Soviets. The US was separated from Japan by the Pacific Ocean and it would probably take months before the US army could make inroads to overpower Japan. The Soviets, on the other hand, were only days away from overrunning Japanese-controlled territory. It made perfect sense for surrender after learning that the Soviets had joined the war.
To add even another twist to the story, there is evidence that Harry Truman did not have to approve the detonation of the atomic bombs to win the war against Japan. For instance, Adm. William D. Leahy, Truman’s chief of staff in the U.S Strategic Bombing Survey is reported to have said the following:
‘Certainly, prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability, prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if atomic bombs had not been dropped.”
Another military official, Brig. Gen. Carter Clarke said, ‘We didn’t need to do it, and we knew we didn’t need to do it, and they knew that we didn’t need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs.’
So, why did President Harry Truman go on to approve dropping the atomic bombs on Japan?
Everything Eventually Bores Down To Identity
In his book, Man of the People: A Life of Harry S. Truman, Alonzo Hamby tells this story of President Truman interacting with and answering questions from a young audience.
“Mr. President, was you popular when you was a boy?”
“Why, no, I was never popular,” the old man told the crowd of school children in the Truman Library auditorium. “The popular boys were the ones who were good at games and had big, tight fists. I was never like that. Without my
From the little snippet from the biography, it is easy to say that a younger Harry Truman had a problem with his identity and the way he saw himself. A little research deeper, it is not hard to see where the seeds of this identity were sown.
In the same book, Harry Truman’s father was
In Harry Truman’s eyes, his dad was the definition of a manly man! And life experience upon life experience pointed to one fact: Unless Truman acted like his dad, there was no way he would possess the identity of a manly man.
The identity of the manly man started to fade away when Truman discovered that he had poor eyesight and had to wear glasses as thick as Coke bottles. Two years later, at the age of 10, Truman contracted diphtheria which lingered for months and left parts of his body paralyzed. This continued to eat at Truman’s identity, as well as his ability to meet the standards of manliness set by his father long after he had recovered from his illness.
For the rest of his life, Harry Truman would continue to make decisions that he could use to prove to himself that he was a manly man in his own right. Perhaps, it was this need to meet up with the identity of toughness that made Truman opt for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki when they provided little to no strategic advantage in a war that was approaching its eventual end.
Identity Precedes Character
Harry Truman made himself believe that a masculine man is the one who is not afraid of selecting the toughest option whenever he is presented with a series of choices. Based on the identity that was on Truman’s mind, he was always going to be motivated to take the action that validated the identity he had on his mind. And this identity was one of a tough masculine man that his father would have been proud of. This same identity condemned approximately 200,000 people to an agonizing and tactically unnecessary death.
Truman later defended his actions to use the atomic bombs saying,
“As President of the United States, I had the fateful responsibility of deciding whether or not to use this weapon for the first time. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. But the President cannot duck hard problems—he cannot pass the buck. I made the decision after discussions with the ablest men in our Government, and after long and prayerful consideration. I decided that the bomb should be used in order to end the war quickly and save countless lives—Japanese as well as American.”
People act and make sense of the world based on the identity on their minds. This is why Paul’s advice to the believers at Galatia makes a whole lot of sense.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”
Note that the scripture did not say, ‘Do not fulfill the lust of the flesh, so that you may be able to walk in the Spirit’. No! Paul said, ‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.’
There is a reason why a lot of us are still battling with unhealthy habits. Unlike Harry Truman who found a way to embrace the identity of a tough masculine man, we seem to be totally oblivious of our true identities. And for those of us who are aware, we are usually unwilling to embrace the identity of who we are in the Spirit. We fail to walk in the consciousness of who we are in the Spirit. As a result, we keep on struggling to walk in victory over sin and the unhealthy habits that we battle with daily.
As you may have found out in your life’s experiences, it is impossible to consistently act in a way that is not consistent with the identity you have in your mind at the moment.
Little wonder King Solomon pens down these powerful words:
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
You cannot overcome a negative behavior by being consumed with thoughts of how to avoid negative behaviors! As unconventional as it may sound, it is the gospel truth: If you want to consistently walk in the victory over sin and unhealthy habits, do not think about sin! Do not think about unhealthy habits!
Rather, by being identity conscious, you automatically overpower the sin issue. By focusing on possessing a healthy identity, you would find healthy habits being set up in your life accordingly.
How To Change Your Identity And Set Yourself Up For Success
Before you can understand how to change your identity to set yourself up for success, you need to understand 3 foundational basics concerning identity.
First, you have multiple identities. A man can be a father, a son, a husband, an employer, a pastor, a spirit man and many more. The man possesses all these identities at the same time.
Second, your identity is not stable. Even though it appears to be stable, your perception of who you are, changes from time to time, based on the immediate context that you find yourself in. The same man that is an aggressive taskmaster as an employee at work becomes harmless, soft and emotional when playing with his newborn baby at home. It’s all in the context.
Thirdly, while identity is never stable because you have multiple identities at the same time, your desire to use your identity to make meaning of your life is always constant. This is why you would never act in a manner that is not consistent with your identity. If an action does not make sense to the identity that is on your mind at the moment, you would not follow through with it.
With that said, how can you change your identity to set yourself up for victory over sin and destructive habits?
The first step is to develop clarity about the new identity you desire to manifest. For instance, as a believer, my identity is that I am born of the Spirit. As a result, I am a spirit too. What are my characteristics as one born of the Spirit? According to the Bible, it means that I am righteous, holy, and wise. You may decide that you want to be a serial, best-selling author. What are the characteristics of best-selling authors? Well, for one, they make time to write in the mornings and/or evenings every day!
Once you have clarity about the identity you wish you manifest in your life, you need to find a way to make that identity stay stable in your mind. The way this is done is through constant consciousness. And here is the part where a lot of us fall short. You cannot merely wish, woo or command the consciousness of a particular identity to jump on you. The truth is that people are sensitive to what their immediate context imply for their identities. That is why stability in identity only comes from repeatedly experiencing contexts that overall feel the same over time. In the example of Harry Truman, he consistently exposed his identity of trying to be a manly man in different contexts leading up to his time at the US presidency and beyond. As a believer, this is referred to as ‘renewing of your mind’ where you consistently expose your mind to as many different contexts for the new identity you seek to manifest. For instance, being wise in my spiritual identity might mean resisting the devil in one context, while also meaning fleeing fornication in another context. The same thing is applicable in the example of the person who wants to be a best-selling author. By choosing to write every morning, you’re showing that you’re consistent and disciplined, which might also mean that you work out every evening in one context, while also meaning that you would not check your
Finally, you need to have an interpretation and plan for the difficulties that you would inevitably encounter. Learn to reframe difficulties as important milestones you need to pass to reinforce your identity. For instance, as a believer, trials and temptations are bound to arise. However, when I rename these temptations or trials as pathways to growth, I am more likely going to keep my mind on the identity of being born of the spirit. Similarly, for the person that wants to write a best-selling book, a time would come when it would become a bit difficult to stay consistent and disciplined. The individual that interprets these difficulties as a necessary path to greatness would ride over the waves of challenges and would arrive at his expected destination in the long run.
When you operate from an identity paradigm, the difficulties you experience become the path you need to take to arrive at the better you that desire. The truth is that while your identity influences your actions, your actions also have an effect on your identity. When you act in a way that aligns with your desired identity, you reinforce that identity; and when you act in a way that does not align with your identity, you’re dismissing the importance of that identity you desire.
