The COVID-19 War Speech I Think Winston Churchill May Have Given Today
Karen Storey
Founder The Storey Group - People + Planet Advisory. Investor & Board Member of the next generation of SDG aligned startups
Now more than ever the words that the world’s politicians use matter.
It got me thinking over the weekend - how would some of the worlds best later-day political orators be rallying their citizens to fight the war the world is now facing if they were still with us today?
I’ve decided to use some of my down-time to slightly re-write a series of my favourite orator's speeches and adapt for the war we now face. My first speech brings back the voice and brilliance of Winston Churchill. Churchill delivered some of the most inspirational speeches in history, so I’ve selected some of his best and adapted for the war we now face. I hope these words resonate and help us all to continue to do our part.
“This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”
“I would say to the world, as I said to those who have joined every Government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous virus. This is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all fear, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for, without victory, there is no survival.”
“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the virus, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in every land, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our countries and our citizens whatever the cost may be: we shall never surrender.”
“The battle of China is nearly over. Europe now is in the gravest of states. I expect that the Battle of the USA and the rest of the world is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of civilisation. Upon it depends our own life and the long continuity of our institutions and our people. The whole fury and might of the virus must very soon be turned upon us.
If we can stand up to it, stay apart and yet stay together in spirit all of the worlds may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, 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 stay at home, and so bear ourselves that, if the world lasts for a thousand years, we will still say, ‘This was our finest hour.’
“The gratitude of every home throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the nurses, doctors, military, utility workers, grocery workers who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
I hope that these adapted words from the past have strengthened your resolve and renewed your commitment to join the world in this fight. Stay safe and stay at home.
Next up will be another inspirational rewrite from JFK - Stay tuned!
Karen
SEO @Interakt | Jio Haptik
4 年Super interpretation Karen Storey, loved it at time i'm very concerned about the future of work as now we are already pushed into stated rightly by Jason Averbook CEO of Leapgen we need to rethink that is the Coronavirus Shaping the Future of How We Work?Let the expert help you out- here's Jason Averbook's insight on the changing workplaces to create meaningful experience:https://s.peoplehum.com/figw9
Regional Manager,Logistics & Planning at DDS Logistics Pvt. Ltd
4 年Great indeed ! Highly inspirational & touching !
Customer Service Leader (Consett, Stanley, Spennymoor, Chester-le-Street, Durham) - Department for Work and Pensions
4 年Fantastic!!!