If we want to shape the future, we need to look to the past, to the women and men who fought for a cause much larger than themselves, believing that good would prevail.
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The statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is silhouetted against the early-morning sky in London, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. Alastair Grant, Associated Press
It’s an interesting time to be in the United Kingdom. We are watching a country come unhinged as a bombastic blond-haired leader with an opportunistic streak tries to subvert the government for his own self-interest.
Strange times indeed.
The issue of Brexit has divided communities, congregations and families. It has torn at the fabric of the nation. We’ve been told that it’s fine to discuss Brexit with locals, as long as we’re OK not making any friends.
People are weary of the shock-and-awe headlines, the extended deadlines, as well as the worries and fears surrounding a no-deal Brexit. A recent poll showed that the majority of Brits would rather have it over and done with rather than endure another extension. Drawing out the inevitable means a continued saga of parliamentary procedure with leaders shouting at one another, vying for the best one-liners and insults.
There is quiet talk of long lines at the borders, but so far, few people have begun stockpiling food. This may change as we roll into October, and as Parliament reconvenes to hammer out the messy details of a no-deal Brexit.
The U.K. and the U.S. have long been joined at the hip as allies. Now they share a mirror-image battle as elected leaders make headlines with their high-volume rhetoric and questionable actions. Warring factions have cleaved both countries in two, shaking the foundations of the world’s most powerful democracies.
While all this was swirling above ground last week, I descended below ground to the Churchill War Rooms in London. The War Rooms, a vast network of meeting places and sleeping quarters below 10 Downing Street, is where Prime Minister Winston Churchill, his war cabinet, and a whole cadre of British officials and military officers plotted their battle against Adolf Hitler.
Winston Churchill’s bedroom in the War Rooms at 10 Downing Street — where he reportedly only slept a handful of times, preferring his own bed above ground — is photographed in the summer 2019. | Tiffany Gee Lewis
The rooms are sparse, narrow and utilitarian. The only designation between officer and assistant is that officers received a thin rug to cover the cold concrete flooring. Even Churchill’s bedroom is noticeably ascetic. An oversized desk filled up much of the room. It is from this desk that Churchill, a powerful orator, addressed the nation in a series of inspiring radio broadcasts that galvanized support for the fight against Germany.
There was no time for opulence. This was a time of rationing and constraint, as the world exploded above their heads.
Churchill came into his role of prime minister as a political outsider. His hold on the government was tenuous, his desire to never surrender a divisive one. Knowing his position to be fragile, he filled his cabinet with his opponents until he felt secure in his position.
Churchill gets a lot of credit for his role, as he should. But walking through the airless, cramped War Rooms, I was just as moved by the role of the secretaries, code-breakers, telegraph operators, typists and thousands of unnamed heroes who worked in lockstep to fight the enemy, not to mention those who risked and lost their lives on the battlefields.
These men and women went forward with little fanfare or regard for their own personal interest.
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A picture of WWII era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is seen as a visitors walks in the bunker that used to house the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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Visitors enter the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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Tiffany Gee Lewis
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Mannequins depicting British officers are seen in the WWII era Map Room in the bunker that used to house the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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A mannequin depicting a British officer is seen at the Cabinet War Room, in the bunker that used to house the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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A mannequin depicting a British officer is placed in a WWII era bedroom in the bunker that used to house the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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A tourist enters the bedroom of WWII era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during a visit at underground Churchill's War Rooms, in central London, Friday Aug. 20, 2010. A ceremony was held outside Churchill's War Rooms to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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War rooms veteran Myra Collyer, whose role was shorthand typist and assistant to the draftsman, poses in the bunker that used to house the Cabinet War rooms, in central London, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. The Cabinet War rooms was the secret subterranean command center where Britain's inspirational, cigar-chomping, wartime leader Winston Churchill plotted the downfall of Nazi Germany and sheltered from enemy air raids during the infamous Blitz on London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) | Lefteris Pitarakis, Associated Press
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The statue of Britain's WWII leader Sir Winston Churchill on Parliament Square, looks out towards the Houses of Parliament and it landmark clock tower, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009 as the time reaches 11.15am. Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of Britain's declaration of war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939. At 11.15am on September 3 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain admitted to the nation in a sombre radio broadcast that his "long struggle to win peace" had failed. Chamberlain, whose announcement came two days after German forces attacked Poland, made his famous radio address from the Cabinet room in 10 Downing Street. (AP Photo/Sang Tan) | Sang Tan, Associated Press
Until the United States entered the war, rather late and under duress, Great Britain alone staved off the power of the Third Reich. It did so because to surrender meant the collapse of the free world.
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Today our countries don’t fight an external enemy. It is a battle within our own ranks, a division of ideals and values. Our elected leaders, particularly the heads of government, use their platforms to grandstand and advance their personal agendas.
If we want to shape the future, we need to look to the past, to the women and men who fought for a cause much larger than themselves, believing that good would prevail.
We need to walk the long corridors of history and learn from them, before the fragile world of democracy explodes above our heads.
Tiffany Gee Lewis is a freelance journalist and children’s book author. Based in the Pacific Northwest, she and her family are on a year-long sabbatical in Oxford, England.
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