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We have no control over other people’s attitudes and judg- ments, but we have full ownership of how we perceive and react to events. Former Notre Dame Football coach Lou Holtz could control a locker room like few of his peers. One thing he stressed to his players was: “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Mo- tivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” Attitude is everything.
I recently watched the film “The Darkest Hour” and saw some parallels to the anti-police climate today. In 1940, the fate of Western Europe hung on British Prime Minister Winston Chur- chill, who was forced to decide whether to negotiate with Ad- olf Hitler or fight on, knowing that it could mean the collapse of Britain. Despite grave opposition from his political leaders, Churchill refused to acknowledge defeat and focused instead on the positive. When he met his cabinet, he told them that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” It was hard enough for Churchill to convince his cabinet to maintain a posi- tive attitude, but he also had to convince the people. In a public address, he said in part:
“Our task is not only to win the battle — but to win the war... we shall not hesitate to take every step, even the most drastic, to call forth from our people the last ounce and the last inch of effort of which they are capable. The interests of property, the hours of labor, are nothing compared with the struggle of life and honor, for right and freedom, to which we have vowed our- selves.”
Shortly after that speech, the news from the front was uni- formly bad. The Germans had broken through the French de- fenses at Sedan, and everywhere the French forces were reeling under a devastating barrage from land and air. Churchill refused to give in. His belief in victory grew stronger. He implored his people:
“Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.”
After a failed British attempt earlier that spring to prevent a German advance and a surprise blitzkrieg bombarding Holland and the French-Belgian border, Belgium and Holland surren- dered, and British troops in France were driven to the beach at the port of Dunkirk. This was the darkest hour. Defeat seemed almost inevitable; however, Churchill refused to surrender his belief or his positive attitude. In his famous June 4 speech to Par- liament, he proclaimed:
“You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That 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 terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without vic- tory, there is no survival.”
Churchill willed his people to succeed. He transformed their thinking and inspired them to help save the lives of more than 300,000 British troops at the port of Dunkirk.
I admit, I may have become a bit too inspired by the asser- tiveness and positive thinking exemplified by Churchill, and drawing the comparison to present-day police may be unfair. However, it is a powerful example of positive attitude, which can spread like wildfire if accepted. d
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