“If you are going through Hell keep going.” – Winston Churchill
“If you can’t be a good example, then you will just have to be a horrible warning.” – Catherine Aird
Two quotes from the British. Although I generally claim Churchill as at least half American through his mother, Jenny Jerome. She was a New Yorker; you know.
All I know about Aird is that quote, but I have been a fan of Churchill for a long time. I did a history report on him in elementary school. The man was a great leader….and hysterical. If you want to improve the moment (DBT alert!) through humor, reading some of his quotes will do it.
Churchill had great quotes, including the one above. I bring it up because in about a 15 hour period I was called both ‘amazing’ and an ‘inspiration’. I looked around to see whom they were talking to!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have very healthy self-esteem, but amazing and inspirational I am not. Basically, I adhere to the wisdom of Lord Churchill: “If you are going through Hell keep going.” Sitting around and moping is not going to improve things one iota. (Not to mention it is just going to stop you in the middle of Hell! )
There is no immediate way to get out of this mess – maybe won’t ever be – so I keep moving.
I cannot find the exact source on this quote but, here it is: “If you are going to Hell you might as well enjoy the ride.” In other words, make the most of the moment; make the most of what ya got. What is wrong with dancing on the deck of the Titanic? It might have passed the time!
Pretty morbid? I am not so sure about that. Most of us had parents who were young in the 1940s. We are talking about the people who somehow made it through WW2. How often did we consider our parents to be all that special? How often did they think of themselves as amazing and inspirational? I don’t think my father or my uncles thought that way at all. What they did was what most people were doing.
No matter what side of things your parents were on, they mostly did what they had to do. They kept moving through Hell.
I am not amazing. I am not inspirational. I am too stubborn to quit. What will happen if I give up scares me to death. I am too proud and arrogant to become ‘a horrible warning’. I am also probably too stupid to see there may not be a way out of this. And you know what? I don’t believe I am much different from you or the generations before us.
When things get rough you keep on keeping on.
In case you non-American folks have not noticed, we here like to claim all sorts of good stuff for ourselves. (I admit it. I am self-aware in at least some respects.) This next quote is from an adopted son of whom we are proud:
“Life is liking riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you have to keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
It is not amazing. It is not inspiring. It is necessary.
Keep moving through Hell.
Next: Time Flies When You’re [not] Having Fun
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