I love one above all others…Nothing will ever change it. I might it is true divide it. But the greater part will remain true- will remain true till death…{who was} this that I love?…Yours very sincerely, Winston S Churchill.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was, among many things, a British politician, writer and soldier. He served two terms as prime minister of the United Kingdom, including providing the leadership and inspiration that were key to leading the Allies to victory in World War II. As they should, the years have been kind to Churchill, and he remains one of History’s towering figures, one of the relative few of us who will be talked about as long as there are humans around to talk.
While it may appear today’s Thought was merely a valentine Churchill wrote to himself, it is actually from a letter he wrote to his mother in 1897 when he was 23 and off fighting His Majesty’s war in South Africa. And while Churchill’s confidence in and affection for himself is plain, it might leave some wondering exactly how does one fall so completely and totally in love with himself?
There is no substitute for knowing what we are about. We don’t love others until we know them and we can’t be comfortable with who we are until we know ourselves better than we know anyone else.
This is both easy and hard. Easy, because all we have to do is follow our hearts because it is telling us where we should go in our lives. It’s hard, though, because this is the road less traveled and it is human nature to avoid roads less traveled. Us humans generally prefer beaten paths.
Now, it didn’t hurt Churchill had some traits us mere mortals weren’t born with. Churchill had a great sense of the moment, of himself and of history. I’ve always had the feeling that Churchill felt his life was a foregone conclusion, he merely had to follow his path and go and get what was waiting for him. (Lincoln and Hitler had this trait, too.)
However, Churchill was no different than you or me: all of us can, like Churchill, know ourselves and the lives we were meant to live. All of us can know the talents we were born with and all of us can go and maximize those talents. When we do this, it gives us the wonderful dividend of confidence to go out and live the life we were meant to live, life’s great prize.
Quotes are from Gaylon’s personal quote book, begun in 1988 in a hotel room in Berkeley, California.
