The Grit Factor

—7—

Have the Audacity to Be Yourself

“One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.”

—Oscar Wilde

“And this above all: to thine own self be true.

And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

—William Shakespeare

As young officers, Major General Dee McWilliams and her husband were stationed in Germany. The stress of work requirements and living overseas led them to the difficult though amicable decision to part ways. McWilliams took leave to go back to the States to settle her affairs, and then returned to Germany. Her first day back on duty, she found her newly unmarried status had changed how she was perceived. She reported to her commander, who closed the door to his office, and then vulgarly ...