This is about more than stopping drinking, isn't it. It's funny what works - for me - what inspires me to try to do my human best, to try to be a good and decent person when at times I feel under pressure and the temptation to be less than I can be.
I'm a Brit. My dad was 15 when war broke out. He tells, sometimes, of walking home from a football match at West Ham, through burning streets strewn with the rubble of his city and the blood of his neighbours. He sometimes tells how he sat on the doorstep of his friend's shattered house to hear the boy talk about how his sister and mother had been killed by the bomb that landed on their air-raid shelter. He tells how the flying bomb, the V1, cut its engine and floated at rooftop height along the full length of the street until something in it chose its victims. My dad is a quiet man. Always has been. My mother being younger (9), was evacuated from London to live with strangers. Her brothers and sister went elsewhere. Not all people are nice and she had a rough time of it.
If you're a Brit and you feel something for this daft, foolish, imperialistic Nation of ours that oppressed so many people and Nations and which continues to be foolish and aggressive at times, there is one period that brings nothing but admiration and - yes - pride. There was a time when this little island was all alone and being attacked in every way possible by what was without doubt an Evil Power. A ruthless enemy that sought to destory people and principles and all decent human values.
It isn't given to every generation to fight to try to uphold what is decent and good, to try to preserve their lives, their families and their Nations.
But it is given to alcoholics and addicts to fight for our lives, our sanity and our families and yes, perhaps our very souls, against an enemy that is cunning and powerful and baffling, against an enemy that will rob us and our families of everything worth valuing in this, the only life we have.
At my country's hour of need one man found a way to voice what a terrified and trembling people needed to hear. He was without doubt an abuser of alcohol; many believe he was an alcoholic. He had a Faith that moved mountains, and he knew Evil when he saw it. After Dunkirk and before America entered the war, the Nazis stood at Calais and glared across the English Channel. A massive, seemingly irresistable army was poised to invade my country. Churchill's response?
"I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Winston Churchill was a flawed man who did many things with which I disagree, but he new real Evil when he saw it, and his response and his spirit is an inspiration to me in my struggle to do the next right thing.
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a....cfm?pageid=388
Martin
I dunno, I thought about deleting this, after all, all we have to do is not pick up, keep it simple and all that good stuff. It just seems to me that those things are the Spitfires and the rifles and the sandbags....for me, what Churchill and other inspirational people do is help me remember WHY I need those tools; what I'm fighting for, what I stand to lose and what I stand to gain....and maybe more importantly, who I want to be - no, not Churchill lol - just me, Martin, but the best Martin I can find within myself....
Anyway, take what you like and leave the rest. Have a peaceful, inspired and inspiring day, whatever it takes.
Hi Martin,
I like your posts, have read some of your replies too, they help so thanks for that.
I'm a Brit too, one quote from Churchill I really like (but that ironically I got from a book called The monk who sold his ferrari lol) is..
"Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that it pangs and toils are not beyond my endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."
Can be applied to war strategy and addiction...
I like your posts, have read some of your replies too, they help so thanks for that.
I'm a Brit too, one quote from Churchill I really like (but that ironically I got from a book called The monk who sold his ferrari lol) is..
"Sure I am that this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that it pangs and toils are not beyond my endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."
Can be applied to war strategy and addiction...
Hi alycat,
I don't think I've seen you post before, welcome.
I know Churchill's a controversial figure but what I admire is his spirit rather than all of his values or decisions. I believe he always did his best to do what he believed was right, and the quote that sums that up for me is in a speech he made at his old school to the schoolkids:
"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, neverin nothing, great or small, large or pettynever give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Whoever the enemy is, whatever it might be, however hard the struggle, be true to yourself....is what I take Churchill to stand for....and he put it in so many ways and showed it in so many actions that he really is an inspiration in that regard. Be true to the best self we are capable of being in each moment, and if we are doing that then whatever we are doing, however we might feel about it later and even if we feel we would rather have chosen differently with 20:20 hindsight, we can know for sure that we were doing the best we were capable of at the time. And no-one can ever do better than that.
Nice to "meet" you.
Martin.
I don't think I've seen you post before, welcome.
I know Churchill's a controversial figure but what I admire is his spirit rather than all of his values or decisions. I believe he always did his best to do what he believed was right, and the quote that sums that up for me is in a speech he made at his old school to the schoolkids:
"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, neverin nothing, great or small, large or pettynever give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Whoever the enemy is, whatever it might be, however hard the struggle, be true to yourself....is what I take Churchill to stand for....and he put it in so many ways and showed it in so many actions that he really is an inspiration in that regard. Be true to the best self we are capable of being in each moment, and if we are doing that then whatever we are doing, however we might feel about it later and even if we feel we would rather have chosen differently with 20:20 hindsight, we can know for sure that we were doing the best we were capable of at the time. And no-one can ever do better than that.
Nice to "meet" you.
Martin.
