Wisdom (Winston Churchill)

Seth McCausland - 04/01/11

    "Churchill opposed Mohandas Gandhi's peaceful disobedience revolt and the Indian Independence movement in the 1930s.. Churchill was outspoken in his opposition to granting Dominion status to India... Churchill favoured letting Gandhi die if he went on a hunger strike.. 'The truth is.. that Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be grappled with and crushed.'"

    "Churchill--like Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin--was a Renaissance man. His multitudinous talents shone splendidly. Churchill was a soldier, journalist, author, artist, sportsman, historian, orator, statesman.."

    "Indeed, it is impossible to overlook any such man who can so boldly lead a struggling nation in its time of need. Winston Churchill deserves to be acknowledged for saving a nation with no hope for the future."

    Winston Churchill was not always the wise man that many people know him to be today.  Churchil (or any person who has ever sought after wisdom) only found it when he stopped to take his unsuccessful attempts, life experiences, and righteous accomplishments, into great thought. Churchill did not only listen,  did not only study extensively, and he did not only work hard in what he was trying to accomplish, to become so righteously knowledgable.  Each time Churchill made a mistake, he would turn it into a way to learn.  Unlike so many people today, he would look at his foolish decisions and think, "How can I turn this weakness into a great strength?"  His misjudgments taught him. He did not let them discourage him or knock him down. Mary Pickford once said, "If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose. For this thing we call 'Failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down."
    Churchill never truly failed.  If he had let himself be knocked down, never  to rise again, then, and only then, would he have failed.  His wisdom in letting his mistakes be a fresh start helped him to grow.  How you view "failure" is entirely up to you.


A Rash Statement
    Consider the following incident that occurred on the 23rd of February 1931, when Churchill gave his opinion on Indian Independence. In his short speech he stated that "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well-known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience..Such a spectacle can only increase the unrest in India."  Churchill was very much against the idea of Indian Independence at first, but as time went on he was able to see his mistake and later learn from it. He says in a letter to G.D. Birla, in 1935, that "Mr. Gandhi has gone very high in my esteem since he stood up for the untouchables ... I do not care whether you are more or less loyal to Great Britain ... Tell Mr. Gandhi to use the powers that are offered and make the thing a success."


Overcoming Obstacles
    As I had stated before, Churchill never actually failed.  One of his most famous quotes is "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."  He strictly followed the principle of never staying down when "failure" knocks you over.  He experienced this early in his life, after failing many classes at various schools and being at the bottom of the class. Churchill decided that the subjects that he was being taught were not useful to him. He had always been interested in war and military life, which led him to take the entrance exam for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He took the entrance exam a total of three times before finally being accepted into the cavalry.

"The thought of surrendering never crossed Winston Churchill's mind. As his brother, John, and a cousin chased him in a game of hounds and deer, Churchill--the deer--managed to avoid capture. But after 20 minutes of evading the hounds, Churchill gasped for breath and decided to cross a bridge. He quickly found himself trapped in the center of the 50-yard expanse. His cousin stood on one end of the bridge and his brother on the other ... Churchill should have given up, but that wasn't in his nature. With no other way to escape,  Churchill decided he would jump from the bridge onto the top of one of the tall pine trees and shimmy down to the ground. However, the trees were farther away than they appeared. Churchill missed the tree he aimed for and hit the ground hard."

    Churchill never gave up.  He would persist to become the best he could be.  Many people feel that Churchill was the greatest orator of the 20th century.  He was born with a lisp, that made his speech hard to understand at times. Because of this, he went to the best dentist of that time, a man named Sir Wilfred Fish, who designed his dentures, which helped him with his slight speech impediment.  As you can clearly see, Churchill would not give up, and because of this, he was able to become "the most valuable (man) to humanity, and also the most likable."


Mature Wisdom - Vision
    Winston Churchill developed the ability to understand the many events that were occurring around him. Because of this, he was able to realize the true danger of Germany and their new government. He tried to raise a warning voice to his countrymen, giving a speech in the House of Commons on March 8th, 1934, five years before World War II began.

"The turning-point has been reached, and the new steps must be taken ... the scene has changed. This terrible new fact has occurred. Germany is arming - she is rapidly arming - and no one will stop her. None of the grievances between the victors and the vanquished have been redressed. The spirit of aggressive nationalism was never more rife in Europe and in the world."

    In fact, six years prior to the war, Churchill had  a conversation with a British naval attaché, in which Churchill had discussed his serious concerns about the Nazi's. Two-and-a-half years later, the attaché (referring to their conversation in 1933) said, "..the Germans are so annoyed with you for telling the truth that no letters addressed to you would ever have got out of the country ... I have never forgotten what you said then (1933) about the Nazis. Two & a half years in Berlin has shown everything you said then is true today ... The Germans fear, & I hope, you WILL be 1st Lord -- or Minister of Defence!"
    William Manchester, who wrote the two-part series The Last Lion, said of Churchill: "He had come to power because he had seen through Hitler from the very beginning."  
    All people have the ability to grow and mature into wisdom.  They may not become a Churchill, but anyone can develop wisdom in the same way he did.  When faced with an obstacle, will you ask yourself, "How can I overcome this?"  When faced with a personal weakness, large or small, will you ask yourself, "How can I turn this into a great strength?"  And will you choose to learn from your mistakes as well as your accomplishments?  If so, you can have an assurance that you will grow in wisdom.

Courage [Sarah Palin] - 3.9.11

    There are many people who will put their life on the line for their country, or die for something they believe in.  But there are few in this world that will dedicate their entire lives to a righteous cause, and suffer pains worse than death for what they hold dear.  There are few who will go through emotional and mental abuse for their entire life, never dying or being freed from all the adversity they must go through.  There are few who will persevere through every thing until they achieve what they want. These are the people who will fight for something with all their strength, and these are the people who will rely on and accept God's help when they reach their limits. These are the people who are truly courageous.

    Sarah Palin is someone who I believe exemplifies courage in her life.  She fights hard for what she believes in, even through all the adversity and hardships that life seems to have attacked her with. Many people admire Palin for her daring actions and her fearless determination.

"There is another thing that comes to mind when you think of Sarah.  The boldness of her actions. She doesn't sit back and let others decide.  To quote Star Trek, she 'boldly goes' forward into the future with determination, fearless in facing whatever adversity [that] comes her way." 

"No matter one’s political beliefs though, it’s hard to dispute that Palin displays a fierce determination in the face of substantial adversity ... about issues in which she believes and with an admirable willingness to “take the darts and the arrows”  she receives from all critics while continuing to speak..."

    In Palin's book, Going Rogue, there are many examples of how she would fight her way through adversity.  She would have a vision of what she wanted, make a goal, and then persevere until she achieved that vision.
    While running for vice-president, at 43, Palin discovered that she was pregnant with her fifth child. The trials that would come with having a newborn during her campaign would be hard, but she later found out that they would only get even more challenging.  Her baby, Trig, was to be born with Down Syndrome.  Initially, Palin began to think things like "Do I have enough love and compassion in me to do this?" She had once read that 90 percent of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. After having read such a thing, she could not keep herself from thinking that it may be simply impossible to deal with, that it would be easier if she just got "rid of" the "problem".  Abortion, to most, is an easy way to deal with a "complication" whether it be an impaired child, or a teenage pregnancy that might handicap a young woman's life. Palin received a "sudden understanding of why people would grasp at a quick 'solution,' a way to make the 'problem' just go away. But again, [she] had to hold on to that seed of faith." The way that she handled this frightening, hard, and discouraging situation inspires me.

"I wanted our loved ones to focus on the fact that this baby, every baby, has purpose, and that not only would he learn from us, but we would learn from him.  I decided to write a letter as though it were from Trig's Creator, the same Creator in whom I had put my trust more than thirty years before. I hoped that even though this new baby would present challenges, we'd trust that God knew best, that He didn't make mistakes:   'I am blessing you with this surprise baby because I want the best for you.  I've heard your prayers that this baby will be happy and healthy, and I've answered them because I only want the best for you! ... I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be 'Trig', because it's so fitting, with two Norse meanings:  'True' and 'Brave Victory' ... I let Trig's mom and dad find out before he was born that this little boy would truly be a GIFT."

    This story about her son shows her true courage.  It shows that she was willing to face the trials that would come with this child.  It shows that she would take situations that could otherwise be negative, and be as optimistic as she could be.
    "One day we will be confronted with our true potential; and we will see what we have missed because we have not embraced the ultimate help offered to us from our Creator.  Life is not worth living if we walk around in it without really knowing that every choice we make defines our lives in the eternities." Palin was dependent on God when she reached her limits. She relied on his strength to help her get through her problems. She says, "I do know there is a God. My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over . . . then see what He will do and how He will get you through. Test Him on this. You'll see there's no such thing as a coincidence."
    But this is just one of the many trials she faced. When her daughter,  Bristol, got pregnant out of wedlock, the media immediately seized the story, telling false information and making it appear that Palin endorsed teenage pregnancy.  Indeed, Palin was proud of Bristol to have the determination and strength to deal with the hard circumstances by taking responsibility.  But they were not "giddy-happy that [their] unwed teenage daughter was pregnant, as the press release suggested."
    One of the hardest challenges occurred on September 17th, while Palin stayed in Michigan during her campaign.  Once again, the media carried the terrible news. She spoke of her feelings as she found out what had happened:

"I had just seen on TV a sickening report that my personal e-mails had been hacked into, and I figured that's what he wanted to talk about.  A cold hand squeezed my heart, though, as I wondered if something else had happened with the kids back in Alaska ... "Your personal e-mails have been hacked," Schmidt confirmed.  "The hacker is broadcasting your personal e-mails on the Internet right now. And photos, too."  And it wasn't just Todd's and my e-mails -- It was the kids', too.  And personal contact information ... It was another fine how-do-you-do:  Hi, Governor, welcome to the blood sport known as presidential politics ... My mind raced to other messages I knew were stored in one of my e-mail accounts:  Bristol and I discussing her pregnancy.  Todd and I discussing Trig's medical challenges ... All kinds of sensitive discussions.."

    Even now, Palin is still attacked frequently because of her willingness to speak boldly and never back down. She continues to fight for what she believes in, and what she thinks is right. She is one of the few people in this world that choose to face the emotional and mental abuse that she is attacked with every day for what she believes in. Like Palin, do you have a vision for what you want for our country? Do you have a vision of what you want for yourself, and your family? Do you have the courage to persevere, and dedicate yourself to your righteous mission?  And are you willing to sacrifice, fight, and endure to reach your goal?