Churchill on Losing

Sometimes I post things for you and sometimes I post things to motivate me. This one is for me. It's to inspire me. And it comes from a great little essay written by Chris Matthews titled: The ten lessons of Winston Churchill.

This is just an excerpt, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

"I'm impressed by the number of elections Churchill lost.

There was that first time he ran for Parliament -- 1899 -- before he headed to South Africa.

He lost again when he joined the Liberal government in 1908 and had to face a special election.

The party had to find him another district where he could win.

He lost three times in the 1920s.

After some surgery at that time, he said he found himself 'without an office, without a seat, without a party, and without an appendix.'

He and his party got killed in 1945.

Here's Anthony Eden, who served as Britain's foreign minister for so many years, then succeeded him as prime minister:

'Courage for some sudden act, maybe in the heat of battle, we all respect, but there is that still rarer courage which can sustain repeated disappointment, unexpected failure, and shattering defeat. Churchill had that too and had need of it, not for a day, but for weeks and months and years.'

He lost a half a dozen elections in his life, but had nothing but contempt for those who loved the word 'democracy' but rejected free elections.

'Democracy is not some harlot in the street to be picked up by some man with a Tommy gun,' he said. 'Democracy is based on reason, a sense of fair play, and freedom and a respect for other people."