From The Seven Deadly Virtues, author and political satirist Christopher Buckley discusses perseverance, “the one that most lends itself to motto, sloganeering, and escutcheon.” A fitting virtue for this Veteran’s Day. — [Ed.]
Today, we proclaim our personal slogans and mantras on bumper stickers and refrigerator magnets. One of the most prominent of the latter variety is a distinctive, white-on-red poster of British World War II vintage urging—commanding—the viewer to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. If you thought, as I did, that this was a slogan to sustain Londoners through the Blitz, you would be incorrect. No, this particular poster was never actually deployed. It had been prepared in the event of an invasion. Thanks mainly to the valor of the Royal Air Force, it was never needed. The threat of German invasion is now, happily, a very distant prospect for Britons and Americans, and yet the slogan adorns Frigidaires and Sub-Zeros everywhere.
Are things that bad? Or does this indicate that we have a primal need to be bucked up and encouraged not to throw in the towel? KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON is a dignified exhortation, quintessentially British, especially compared with its modern, American variations, which include “Keep on Truckin’” and “Keep On Keepin’ On.” It certainly beats the fatalistic millennial cri de coeur, “Suck It Up, Bitch.”
Another P-themed refrigerator magnet much on view these days is, “Never, never, never, never give in!” That’s a bit strident, but then we’re a culture whose idea of persevering is “Thank God It’s Friday”—Wow, we made it all the way to Friday!
The author of “never, never, never” is, of course, that archetypal bulldog of pluck, indomitability, and Vitamin P—Winston Churchill. It’s from a speech he gave in October 1941 to the students at Harrow School, boys who soon would be shouldering the burden of battle themselves. His actual words were, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
Churchill’s rhetoric was at its most stirring when the chips were down, when perseverance was an even more indispensable quality than courage. He gave four speeches during the war with perseverance as the centerpiece: “Blood, toil, tears, and sweat”; “We shall fight on the beaches”; the Harrow speech; and this one, arguably the most moving, after the fall of France, when things were darkest:
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.”
That “thousand” was not a random number. Hitler had declared a “thousand-year Reich.” This was to be a contest to see whose system would persevere over the other.
Churchill could also be rather witty on the subject, as he was when he said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” But my favorite is his private mantra on that theme, condensed to a three-letter acronym: “KBO.” It’s scrawled on a coffee-stained, weathered Post-It note on my desk. It stands for “Keep Buggering On.” It works for me, but if you’re going to declaim it out loud at the dinner table, discretion is probably advised.
* * *
To read more from Christopher Buckley and other great conservative writers on why the virtuous life is funny as hell, purchase a copy of The Seven Deadly Virtues on Amazon. Dad doesn’t need another tie; it’s the perfect holiday gift!
The post Perseverance: All the Way to the End appeared first on Acculturated.