This weekend I was telling my husband about Winston Churchill’s remarkable tenacity. I continue to be astounded… and encouraged.
Churchill is often noted for his courage and conviction during the Second World War. He stood up to Hitler and refused to blink. He was an exceptional ally to President Roosevelt and the United States. And he helped bring down the Nazi regime.
What astounds me is the part of his story that leads up to his “moment” of greatness. For most of his life he was just another member of Parliament, notably outspoken and often disliked. He was the butt of many a newspaper joke. He had a few close friends, but the majority of English “high society” thought him over-reactive and brash. He rocked the proverbial boat.
But he didn’t let this bother him. And he didn’t sit still. He wrote magazine columns and newspaper articles and biographies of the Duke of Marlborough and of his father, Sir Randolf Churchill. He researched and tackled A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. He took up flying lessons for several years, until his wife insisted he quit. He thought painting looked fun, so he bought paints and brushes and taught himself. And he did this all in his “spare” time while serving as a member of the British parliament.
Churchill didn’t become Prime Minister until the age of sixty-five, the age that most now retire. He wanted to contribute to the British government earlier, but his unpopular and “warmongering” views prevented his service.
Churchill is known for his great wit and humor. There’s a book entitled The Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill: A Treasury of More Than 1000 Quotations that I hope to add to my library soon. But what’s amazed me is the man behind these quotes. When Churchill commented that “…it is a mistake to look too far ahead; only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at once”, he knew what he was talking about. He had lived it.
That’s what reading about great men and women of the past teaches us. As Russell Kirk said, we are “dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, able to see farther than [our] ancestors only because of the great stature of those who have preceded us in time.”
