Winston Churchill: A One Man Show

Winston Churchill
1874-1965

Click HERE to watch Winston Churchill: A One Man Show — 

Written, Produced, and Directed

By:  Dr. JJ

As a lover of history, literature, leadership, and oratory, it is no secret or surprise that I am an ardent admirer of Winston Churchill, Great Britain's most famous wartime leader.

Churchill is a controversial figure in the eyes of many. Serving in politics as long as he did (62 years), he certainly made his share of errors, miscalculations, and misjudgements. In short, he was human, and as all of us homo sapiens know, even the very best among our human family is prone to err from time-to-time.

Nevertheless, at Freedom Focused, we strive to focus more on a person's virtues and achievements than their vices and failures. In so doing, we seek to cast judgment not on an individual's greatest mistakes, but on their noblest actions and the composite impacts of their many choices on the whole of their life and career, including one's overall influence for good on their fellow beings.

Viewed from this holistic and utilitarian perspective, it is impossible to not credit Churchill for not only his extraordinary personal character, energy, passion, vision, and work ethic, but for essentially saving the Western World from the iron grip of fascism and tyranny. Thus, anyone who lives and/or works in the West owes a debt of gratitude to this august lion of liberty.  

Suffice it to say, I'm a BIG FAN of the man and his legacy, and seek to promote the noble character traits he so capably cultivated and personified; character traits such as conscience, compassion, vision, discipline, diligence, determination, focus, and persistence.  

I've spent a good deal of time studying the life and career of Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. I've also spent time listening to his famous wartime speeches, whereby he, in the words of President John F. Kennedy: "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."

Kennedy uttered these famous words in April 1963 at the tail end of Churchill's illustrious life. He did so at a special ceremony which was held in the flower garden of the White House to grant Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship status. This unusually prestigious honor has only been granted to eight (8) persons in the history of the United States, and CHURCHILL was the FIRST to be so honored.  

In context, Kennedy's words were thus:

"Whenever and wherever tyranny threatened, [Churchill] has always championed liberty. Facing firmly toward the future, he has never forgotten the past. ... serv[ing] all men's freedom and dignity. In the dark days and darker nights when England stood alone—and most men save Englishmen despaired of England's life—he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. The incandescent quality of his words illuminated the courage of his countrymen." 

One of my favorite Winston Churchill quotes is: If the present tries to sit in judgment of the past, it will lose the future. 

Churchill on Horseback in military
uniform with a fellow soldier & officer.

"If the present tries to sit in judgment of the past,

it will lose the future." 

—Sir Winston Churchill

We live in an era where many have become so judgmental of the past that they miss out on the cornucopia of wisdom it holds. As Churchill so incisively suggested, such extremities do not bode well for our future. At Freedom Focused, we are proponents of Churchillian philosophy as it relates to history. In other words, we prefer learning from the past rather than judging it. In so doing, we do not ignore PAST sins, inequities, and injustices. Rather, we seek to rectify former errors while concurrently allowing the wisdom of history to inform our PRESENT actions. We are confident that this balanced approach will create the best and most just and virtuous FUTURE for all mankind.   

As the illustrious historian, Will Durant, so wisely put it:

"Intellect is ... a vital force in history, but it can also be a dissolvent and destructive power. Out of every hundred new ideas ninety-nine or more will probably be inferior to the traditional responses which they propose to replace. No one [person], however brilliant or well-informed, can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history.

"So the conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it—perhaps as much more valuable as roots are more vital than grafts. It is good that new ideas should be heard, for the sake of the few that can be used; but it is also good that new ideas should be compelled to go through the mill of objection, opposition, and contumely; this is the trial heat which innovations must survive before being allowed to enter the human race. It is good that the old should resist the young, and that the young should prod the old; out of this tension, as out of the strife of the sexes and the classes, comes a creative tensile strength, a stimulated development, a secret and basic unity and movement of the whole" (1).

For this and other reasons, I have aimed—and will continue to strive—throughout my life and career to study, analyze, teach, model, promote, and proliferate history. Whether it is dressing up like a soldier in the Texas Army for my 9th Grade English classes in 2010, publishing historical blog-essays, or putting on a one-man show of Winston Churchill in 2023, I will continue to love and teach history until the day I pass into its annals myself.

  

A Young
Winston Churchill
Circa mid-1880s

Brief Biography of Sir Winston Churchill

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874, at the tail end of the Victorian Era and the apex of Imperial Britain's military dominance and geopolitical power and influence. The close relationship he would someday share with President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States was presaged at his birth since his mother—Jennie Jerome—was a U.S. citizen whose ancestors had fought for American Independence with George Washington in the Colonial Army. Winston's father was Lord Randolph Churchill—a member of the British aristocracy who undulated between both major and minor roles in the British Government throughout his high-profile career.

Churchill in military dress

uniform while attending the

prestigious Royal Military

Academy at Sandhurst

It was to this mixed-nationality couple that Churchill was born into great privilege at Blenheim Palace, the opulent estate of his famous ancestor, the First Duke of Marlborough—one of the most famous soldiers and military leaders in English history, of whom Churchill would eventually become a biographer/hagiographer.

Click HERE to buy Marlborough: His Life and Times by Winston S. Churchill  

Despite entering the world in such a favorable life-station, Churchill consciously and intentionally chose to tread an independent, courageous, and entrepreneurial-esque journey through life whereby he did not dodge danger, difficulties, opposition, or rejection—all of which he could have largely avoided if he had so desired. This challenging and adventurous pathway included military schooling and service, combat experience in Africa (South Africa and the Sudan), Cuba, and India, and even capture by enemy forces in South Africa, followed by a heroic and legendary escape.

Winston (Dr. JJ)
and Clementine (Marie Pinschmidt)

In 1900, following many years of military adventures, Churchill was elected as an MP (Member of Parliament), a post he would hold for all but two of the next 64 years. 

In 1908, he married Clementine Hozier. He would cultivate a happy and successful marriage with his beloved "Clemmie" for the next 56 years—until Winston's death in 1965. Churchill's swift and meteoric rise to power within the British Government continued after he and Clementine tied the knot. Such success would not, however, remain unabated throughout his career, as attested by his difficult experiences during the First World War and later on in his "Wilderness Years" in the 1930s. During such down periods of his life and career, Churchill was prone to depression. He himself referred to his depressive episodes as his "Black Dog." 

Winston Churchill
as a young MP

In 1915, after the infamous Dardenelles debacle as First Lord of the Admiralty (Secretary of the Navy, U.S.), Churchill, in his early 40s at the time, was literally back-in-action as an Army Colonel commanding British Tommys on the Western Front in 1916. Perhaps no other single action of his long and storied life underscores his personal character, conviction, courage, and commitment than this dangerous, yet humble and honorable, response to his ignominious demotion following the Gallipoli disaster on the coasts of Turkey.

After World War I and during the 1920s, Churchill served in many important government posts, including Minister of Munitions, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Colonies, and Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury Secretary in the U.S.). The 1930s were a different story, with Churchill's party often out of power and himself denied repeatedly from filling significant posts. He spent a great deal of time on his many hobbies during these "Wilderness Years."

Prime Minister Churchill inspecting damage caused
by the Germany's Luftwaffe's "Blitz" in London in 1940

Such hobbies included reading, writing, painting, bricklaying, landscaping, and raising animals at his home at Chartwell in Kent. Much of his writing during this period was focused on warning Europe and the rest of the world about the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Initially written off as an alarmist, Churchill's ultimate prescience of the Nazi problem catapulted him back into power when it mattered most. This political renaissance began with Churchill's return as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1939, after a 24-year absence from the post. The following year, in May 1940, Churchill became the logical choice for Prime Minister following the inevitable resignation of Neville Chamberlain, whose policy of appeasement had failed and heaped embarrassment upon British and French diplomatic approaches to curb Hitler's warmongering and other imperialistic aims throughout Europe.

With Stalin and Roosevelt during World War II

Once he held the reins of power at 10 Downing Street, Churchill set to work immediately to galvanize support for his preferred policy of resisting Nazi aggression rather than capitulating to it. Upon successfully securing this support, he proceeded to rally his countrymen to the cause of "Victory ... at any cost... [and] however long and hard the road." His speeches, filled with conviction, commitment, and courage brought out the very best of the British people, their Commonwealth, and their Allies, thus paving the way to victory in the Battle of Britain and then later to total victory in World War II with the help of the United States and their Allies.  

Somewhat ironically, Churchill's party lost power immediately following the war, but he returned to 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister for a second time from 1951-1955. In 1953, during his second tenure as Prime Minister, he was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth. That same year, Churchill received the Nobel Prize for Literature—a formal tip-of-the-hat to his many achievements and prolific career as a writer. After three-and-a-half more years in office, he finally resigned and left 10 Downing Street due to advancing age and declining health.

Despite his deteriorating health, Churchill lived for another 10 years, spending most of his time at his home in Chartwell in Kent or vacationing on the French Riviera. He finally passed away on January 24, 1965, at the age of 90. Standing in the shadows of Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington and hero of the Battle of Waterloo) and William Gladstone (a 4-time Prime Minister in the latter nineteenth century), Churchill received a rare State Funeral in London, which was preceded by a funeral procession of over 300,000 mourners who crowded the streets of London to get a final glimpse at the coffin of their beloved leader and hero.  

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
1874-1965

Despite any controversies that persist over his many decisions and ideologies as a political and military leader, Churchill remains universally admired for leading the charge against Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany—his greatest and most famous feat and one for which the Western World will ever be grateful and grant homage.   

In my personal estimation, Churchill is one of the most honest, authentic, courageous, committed, energetic, talented, and vibrant—in short, one of the greatest—human beings who has ever lived. He was not perfect; none of us are! But as politicians go, he had wonderful integrity and stood consistently on his principle—even when he had to change his mind (or party) to uphold them. He also cultivated many quality relationships in both his personal and professional life, first-and-foremost of which being his marriage to his beloved "Clemmie."

For this and many other reasons, I never cease from being inspired by his remarkable life and legacy, which stood firm and undaunted for LIBERTY and FREEDOM, something I (and we) obviously strive so earnestly to uphold, promote, teach, and model at Freedom Focused. Thus, it is, that I have created this simple and brief, but heartfelt impersonalized tribute to my mentor and hero, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. 

Click HERE to watch Winston Churchill: A One Man Show  By: Dr. JJ.  

Note: I am an amateur actor with novice sound and video equipment and experience. Some may even find this performance a little cringe-worthy... at least I hope that is the case. As with other things I have said, written, and done on this blog over the years, it is no secret that I was "embracing cringe" long before Taylor Swift famously encouraged an audience of college graduates to be willing to do just that in their quest for authenticity and success. Rest assured, I'll continue to embrace cringe right up to the pinnacle of my profession and then even further up... "to infinity — and beyond!"  -Dr. JJ   

Click HERE to watch Winston Churchill: A One Man Show  By: Dr. JJ.  

        

—Dr. JJ

June 27, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 329th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 153rd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 328 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

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Notes:

1. Durant, W. & Durant, A. (1996). The Lessons of History. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. Pages 35-36. 

From Whence Cometh JACK?

As an English major and Anglophile, whose ancestry

hails largely from the British Isles, this "JACK"

has a certain fondness for his namesake flag.

Did you know my nickname is JACK? 

That's right... "J - A - C - K"... you know, like "Jack-be-nimble, Jack-be-quick," or Jack and the Beanstalk.  

I am not kidding...

Many of my friends and colleagues call me "Jack" not "Jordan." 

Others of my family, friends, and colleagues are, however, still in the dark about this nomenclatural phenomenon of mine, which has developed over the course of the past couple of decades.   

To illustrate the consequences of this lingering confusion, consider the following exchange that recently took place between a friend of mine and my Parents-in-Law.... 

A few weeks ago, my friend saw Lina's mom and dad. He happens to know them personally—better, in fact, than he knows me—so he approached them naturally, and as a matter of clarifying chit-chat queried:

JACK-o-lantern

"Hello Tuckers! Hey, isn't Jack your son-in-law?"

With blank stares on their faces, Pa- and Ma-in-Law Tucker looked at their friend and replied, quite honestly: "No; we don't have a son-in-law named "Jack," leaving my friend as confused as my folks-in-law. Suffice it to say, it took the three of them a little while to sort out the situation and clarify that "Jack" was in fact "Jordan" and vice versa, leaving all three to walk away from the conversation scratching their heads. The next time I saw my friend he jovially retold this story to me. We both had a good laugh, after which he left saying: "See you later, Jack, Jordan, JJ!" 

Just for the RECORD, I answer enthusiastically to all three names!  

Nevertheless... in an effort to prevent future befuddlement of this nature, I am writing this blog article to clarify the issue and formally answer the question:

"From Whence Cometh Jack"?

     The story goes like this... 

As many of you know, I am a poet, and I love, Love, LOVE poetry.

I love hearing it.

     I love reading it.

          I love reciting it.

               I love composing it.  And most of all...

                    I love living it!  

In fact, I have written an entire book full of original poetry—click HERE to BUY.

Moreover, dozens of famous poems (or poem sections) stand ready for recitation at a moment's notice at my memory's command. If you don't believe me, just ask me sometime and I'll be happy to oblige because I LOVE reciting poetry!  

I first started writing poetry in the early 1990s when I was in 6th grade as part of a poetry project my classmates and I were assigned in language arts. Later on, in college and throughout my twenties, I began writing poetry prolifically, inspired almost exclusively by TWO (2) key subjects:

ROMANCE and PERSONAL LEADERSHIP (a forerunner of SAL). 

As a young, single adult, cupid's arrows were
many and varied and hit me from all directions.

At the time I was a young, single, and marginally immature fella in my early-mid twenties whose social development had been significantly delayed and retarded by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in my teens and early twenties. 

Furthermore, I was at this time of my life reflexively infatuated with about every tenth single woman who caught my eye or crossed my path; and considering there were multiple universities and tens of thousands of young, single women in the area where I lived at the time, you can imagine the variety of conundrums in which I often found myself as a result.

Looking back, some of my approaches were pretty pathetic and did not always reflect positively on me. Nevertheless, it was all part of an overall growth curve, learning space, and extended period of social maturation that was necessary to prepare me for a serious, long-term relationship in the bonds of holy matrimony several years down the road.  

Suffice it to say, I have always loved ROMANCE and everything to do with it, and I was determined to not let my fears hold me back from "going-for-it" in the realms of romantic pursuits in college and beyond. In my mind, there was no such thing as a woman being "out of my league." No doubt many women I pursued believed otherwise, and no doubt many other people believed that about many of the women I was wont to pursue; but I absolutely refused to ever believe it myself. Like every other area of my life, I was determined to shoot for the stars and live without regrets. If I got rejected, I got rejected—and most of the time I did get rejected. 

Nevertheless, I stubbornly affirmed and reaffirmed to myself that the only true failure in anything—including ROMANCE—was the failure to TRY.  

Sometimes this attitude got me into trouble—landing me into preventable snafus I would certainly avoid if I had to do it all over again. You might say I was committed to "Embrace Cringe" long before it had become a meme—and when Taylor Swift was still just a teenager!

But in the main, it taught me vital lessons (although usually the hard way) while gradually building my confidence and refining my approach to the point where I would eventually find great success in this important realm of my life's journey.   

In my view, few experiences in life can top authentic
and mutually-experienced romantic feelings and adventures.

To me, there are few (if any) things or experiences in this world that can match the excitement, adventure, and euphoria of romance. And while mutually experienced romantic feelings and experiences are by far the BEST—as being genuinely adored, appreciated, cherished, and loved romantically by another person is by far one of life's richest potential endowments—I daresay that even one-sided romantic feelings can still be intoxicatingly adventurous, even though disappointment inevitably ensues, something I am very familiar with since the vast majority of my romantic overtures toward other women were rejected prior to winning the heart of my wife, Lina.

Consequently, my circumstances in colleges—which involved being surrounded by literally legions of potential romantic partners—could be INTOXICATING at times for a guy like me who had always found it easy to fall in love (or at least deeply infatuated) with whomever I perceived as potentially the Right Girl at any given moment in my pre-marital life. Said intoxications were so powerful that it led to an explosion of energy and creativity with regards to not only flirting and dating, but to my composition of romantic poetry as well.  

My ROMANTIC dreams were finally

consummated upon marrying Lina Tucker

on August 8th, 2008—a date remembered as 8/8/8

Unfortunately—or fortunately—depending on how you look at it, my results never came close to matching my energy and creativity in the romance sector—that is, of course, until I met Lina; but that would not come until several years down the road.

Painful though it often was in the present, this was okay—nay, this was PERFECT—for my future because romantic failure kept me out of a good deal of trouble that I might have gotten into had I been more successful in my many pursuits. Moreover, the price I had to pay for winning Lina's heart made the reward that much sweeter in the end.

Thus, it is worth noting that:

The HARDER you have to work for something (or someone), and the more you FAIL along the way, the more you appreciate it (or in my case, her) when you finally earn the reward. This is partly why winning Lina's heart was, for me, better than finding a mountain of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow.  

Click HERE to read about Dr. JJ's Rocky Road of Romance.  

Despite my lack of success with the ladies prior to winning Lina's heart, ROMANCE itself became a powerful muse for my mind, heart, and pen during this stage of my life. 

Click HERE to BUY this book

Being thus driven by what I viewed to be two of my life's ULTIMATE QUESTS—

1). To find and woo the woman I'd eventually marry, and

2). To build a successful business from the ground-up based on Self-Action Leadership,

is it any wonder, then, that most of my poetry revolved around these two defining subjects of that period of my life?

Click HERE to BUY Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection by Dr. JJ.  

During this same period of time, I thought it would be fun to employ a pen name when composing in verse. Thus, Jordan would be the author of all my professional prose and JACK would be the pen behind my poetry.

And that is where "JACK" comes from; it is an erstwhile pen name I employed when composing poetry.

JACK jumped over
the Candlestick

However, a few years after I began composing poetry as "JACK," I concluded it would simplify things for me and my readers if I just stuck with "JORDAN" for all of my formal, published work, including poetry, which is why it says: "Jordan R. Jensen" on the bottom cover of Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection.

It was at this point in time that you might say I consciously killed off "JACK." 

Fast forward a half-decade or so, however, and I got bored one day while ordering food at a fast-food restaurant. In an effort to combat my mind's momentary maze of ennui—a frustrating, painful, and continually reoccurring experience I suffer from in my life—I spontaneously decided to blurt out "JACK" instead of Jordan when asked for my name. Enjoying this little game, I afterwards began to develop a habit of referring to myself as "Jack" when a fast food employee or food server asked me what my name was.

From there, this tradition gradually spread to a small group of my friends and associates. Over time, I decided I really liked having a professional persona for my formal work and published writing and a casual moniker for less formal occasions among colleagues and friends. In fact, I liked it so much that I started using it more and more until one day I determined I was going to make a concerted effort to get people to start calling me "JACK" on a regular, personal basis.  

Jack & the Beanstalk  ~  Romantic Version

Now, I'm not gonna lie... it has taken some time and effort to accomplish this feat. Had I not been determined to make it happen, I would have given up long ago and just settled on "Jordan" alone for the rest of my life, which would have been okay because I love the name Jordan even more than I love the name "Jack."

"Jordan," however, is more suited to formal settings than casual ones. It also has two syllables instead of one, making it linguistically and rhetorically less efficient than "Jack."

For better or for worse, I have never been short on supply when it comes to determination, focus, and persistence, so it's not surprising that I stayed the course until I finally got "JACK" to stick on an informal basis.  

It's always nice to have options, right? So toss "JJ" in there, and you've got at least three choices when calling my name—which, may come in handy if you ever find yourself getting bored like I do.

Along the way, however, there have been moments of confusion for many people. Such confusion has even caused me to consider going back to just "JORDAN." The problem with that course, is, of course, that an attempt to do so at this point would only spawn greater confusion! Consequently, it appears the damage has been done; my efforts were successful—for better or for worse—and now I'm gonna have to stay the course with "JACK" whether I (or other people) like it or not.  

Fortunately, I like it! 

     And it seems most others are okay with it also.   

Jackie-boy Daddy-man with his three young Jacklings

Yes, "JACK" is here to stay—at least among my close friends, colleagues, and many strangers (such as food servers)—and now for my readers as well. And I'm okay with this because I really do like the name "JACK." Perhaps second only to "JOE," "JACK" is the penultimate All-American name—so delightfully simple and one-syllabic. It's also beautifully British, which scores big points in my book as well!  

It's short.

     It's simple.

          It's casual.

               It's easy.

                    It's AWESOME!

World War I Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

It is also worth noting that it was primarily the "Joes" and "Jacks" from America and Great Britain who saved the world from tyranny and evil, not once, but twice in the first half of the twentieth century. My paternal grandfather, Ned Jensen, was one of those American "G.I. Joe's" to whom freedom-loving people everywhere owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.

As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it: "Never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." 

Thank You, Joe!  

     Thank You, Jack!

I'll never forget what you did for us, and for the rest of my life, I'll never stop honoring you—from the bottom of my heart to each and every letter of my multiple names—and beyond!

I'm so proud of you both!  

     And I'm so proud to (sort of) be a JACK!

World War II Victory Medal
Photo from medalsofamerica.com

On the covers of my books and other published materials, or when speaking from the podium, pulpit, or stage, I'll always be "Jordan"; and that is how it should be. But among my closer friends and colleagues, it seems I'm destined to be "JACK" for the balance of my days in this world.

So it goes... and it's all helped to combat some of my life's neurotic experience of existential and otherwise momentarily circumstantial ennui—which is an ongoing challenge I suppose will follow me to varying degrees and extents to the grave.

That's the bad news.  

But the GOOD NEWS is that stuff like "JACK" has helped address and palliate these negative symptoms, which I really appreciate!

So... thank you for your support and understanding, all confusion and annoyances notwithstanding! 

—Dr. JJ (aka JACK)

April 5, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 315th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 141st consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 314 FF Blog Articles. 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES.  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS.   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

  

God Save the Queen

Queen Elizabeth II
of the United Kingdom

For my holiday message this year, I would like to share a special address from Elizabeth II, Queen of England.

This may surprise some of my readers, who, like me, are enthusiastic American-born patriots of the USA. Such readers may even view the British Monarchy as a bit of an unnecessary accoutrement of a bygone era—and a particular oddity in the twenty-first century.

Although it is no secret that my personal loyalties will always lie first-and-foremost with American democratic-republicanism, I must confess that I am, secondarily speaking, something of a British Anglophile, and with good reason.  

Aside from being an English major (bachelor's degree) and lover of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Lewis, etc., as well as Arthurian and Robin Hood legends, most of my progenitors (on both sides of my family) hail from the British Isles. Indeed, I am, ancestrally speaking, about 85-90% British. 

Perhaps this explains my tolerance of the British Monarchy, a position I hold not for the sake of any sordid tabloid curiosity, but rather for the potentially positive symbols of strength, solidarity, tradition, and service that its members seek to personify and represent throughout the Commonwealth and world.  

Great Britain is a remarkable place with an extraordinary history. From the Magna Carta in the early thirteenth century (1215) to the Elizabethan rise to global hegemony in the late sixteenth century (1588); from Wellington stopping Napoleon in the early nineteenth century to Churchill's rescue of the Western World 80 years ago. And who can possibly match the matchless works of the Immortal Bard? Suffice it to say, there is an awful lot to admire throughout English history, culture, and literature—at least as viewed through my biased eyes.  

The United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Northern Ireland

No country is perfect, of course, and Britain is certainly not without its sins. But on the whole, and viewed through a lens of what they have done right rather than what they have done wrong (at Freedom Focused, our aim is to focus primarily on a person or nation's virtues and victories rather than their vices and defeats), Britain has for centuries been an example to the rest of the world of excellence, productivity, possibility, courage, and resolve. The seedbed of the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, that little Island—roughly the size of the State of Alabama—has probably produced a higher number (per capita) of noted men and women of science, literature, philosophy, art, medicine, and technology than any other nation in all of human history.  

Although Britain remains but a shadow of its former empire—upon which the sun never set for three centuries—the United Kingdom remains a respected and influential member of the G7 in the twenty-first century; a shining beacon of relative peace and stability in a world increasingly bereft of both. Moreover, their early abolition of the Slave Trade in conjunction with their own voluntary diminution of their overseas colonial holdings further evinces the positive core values that serve as their collective ideological foundation stones.

Queen Elizabeth on
Australian Currency in 1966

In contemporary times, I have come to admire Queen Elizabeth II—the longest serving monarch in English history, even longer than the famous Queen Victoria, who ruled the mightiest empire in all human history (up to her time) for an incredible 64 years! This is no small feat considering their were 60 monarchs who preceded her for a total of nearly 1,200 years. The longevity of that heritage puts into perspective the relative nascence of the United States and its more recent rise to global supremacy.

Over time, I've also grown to admire Prince William (heir to the throne) and his lovely wife, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge. I do not personally know these people (yet), but I have been impressed from a distance at the ways in which they conduct themselves and represent their nation.  

The future King of England is just three years younger than I am. He got married three years after me, and at the exact same age (28). He and Kate subsequently brought a boy, girl, and then another boy into the world the precise years (2013, 2015, & 2018) and within a few short months of Lina's and my boy, girl, and another boy. With such a striking familial trajectory, it has been hard not to notice the unfolding life story of this budding English monarch and his elegant bride, both of whom are about my age.  

King George V
of the United Kingdom

For the past 88 years, the reigning English King (or Queen) has delivered a special message to the Commonwealth on Christmas Day. The first of such messages was delivered on December 15, 1932 by King George V, Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather. The speech was written by Britain's 1907 Nobel Prize winning poet, Rudyard Kipling (author of "IF" — a standard classic SAL poem at Freedom Focused). 

King George the Fifth's inaugural Christmas Day address was delivered on the radio, a popular new form of mass communication (at the time) that Winston Churchill would so masterfully employ a few years later during the Second World War.  

Twenty (20) years after King George the Fifth's first Christmas Day speech, his granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, delivered the FIRST Christmas Address of her reign in 1952. Five years after that, Elizabeth delivered the first Royal Christmas message to be broadcast on television. An extraordinary 62 years later, the same Queen gave her most recent (68th) Christmas address on December 25, 2019, now available to the entire world on YouTube.  

I recently came across this speech while helping my second-grade son, Tucker, with a homework assignment about England. 

I hope you appreciate and enjoy this message as much as I did. It is delivered by a truly remarkable human being who has been a pillar of strength, resolve, and consistency over the course of her nearly 95 years on the Planet. You will be impressed with how prescient her words were, so much so, in fact, that last year's address feels more like a message that was meant to be given this year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Click HERE to watch the Queen's Christmas Message.

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