69 Years Ago Today......

If studying history has given me nothing else, it has given me perspective. And perspective is a gift. It allows you to relate to current events in your own life without overreacting – good or bad. If things are going well, perspective can give you humility. If things are going bad, perspective gives you solace.

So on June 18, 1940, Winston Churchill (the Prime Minister of Britain) gave a speech to Parliament. It was the first year of World War II and Germany had just rolled through France and took over the country – completely unprovoked. Churchill knew that Britain was Hitler’s next target and they we’re going to be in a fight for their lives - literally. Here is an excerpt from one of the most famous speeches ever given:

What General Weygand has called the Battle of France, is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

Less than a month later, the Germans starting bombing England incessantly. People in London were forced to live in the subways for fear of the bombings in their neighborhoods. The battle lasted a year and England never gave in. Some historians believe this was the turning point in the war. If Hitler got Britain, he would have their airfields to help fly bombers to North America.

So when you feel things are tough out there, go on-line and find an 80 year old from England to chat with. Ask them what it was like to live in a subway while their home was being decimated for being in a country that Hitler needed in his quest for world domination. Ask them what it was like to know that any given day someone they knew and loved would get killed – completely unprovoked. Or that they themselves could be in harms way by simply running outside to get their food rations for the day. Then ask them how they’re handling these “tough” times we’re faced with today. I bet you might just get an LOL.

Yep. History sure does give you perspective.