“Never give in…in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense,” Winston Churchill.  This quote came in a different time with a different context but it is so important to break this down and understand it and integrate it.  This was said in a time when fighting for what we believed and what was right was considered noble and frankly, even a responsibility.  A duty.  People were expected to pick a side and to stick with it.  To fight and defend their choices.  Time was also slower then because we didn’t have the immediate sharing of unfiltered information.  We also didn’t have the same filtering of media that we do today.  Things were more based in fact than performative.  We still see the willingness to fight for beliefs as a general behavior today but it has been diluted down to people’s opinions and their egos.  We are incensed over getting offended but we fail to defend those in physical need or facing harm.  Conviction takes on a different meaning when referring to human rights versus human opinion.   

I won’t go down the morality path in this piece but it does have a lot to do with it.  We have compromised our beliefs in favor of instant gratification and numbing and distraction.  The people who have strong convictions seem to be morally bankrupt in many cases, making choices for others in an attempt to control the situation or the person themselves.  The thing is this: when we are better able to make decisions through a bigger view we understand the moral aspect better.  In making the world bigger and forming new ways to connect with people, we seem to have lost touch with our humanity.  Interacting through screens has diminished our ability to relate to each other in spite of communicating with each other.  In order to operate with conviction, honor, and sense, we need to reinstate the ability to authentically, and accurately relate to people.  We need to be able to discern what is real versus curated.  To be clear, I am not insinuating correct moral decisions were made during Churchill’s time.  My intent is to express that people picked a side based on the collective, whether right or wrong, they made a choice based on others.  We have lost much of that ability today.

In spite of how that behavior has shifted, I still have hope that people find belief and value in more than just themselves.  I hope that people have things they want to have conviction for.  I hope that people can still draw the line in the sand and say that there are things they are willing to fight for outside of the latest IG filter scandal.  In a time where making a decision is often complicated by human interference, I hope that we maintain good sense and choose to do the right thing.  Sometimes beliefs can create another set of issues, but I will encourage ideas to no end.  When we have ideas we have possibility.  We have excitement and curiosity.  And as we dabble with that, we can learn what works and what doesn’t and we can see the impact on others.  So when we discover what it is that makes us tick and what keeps us going, the driver, then we must stick with that and do what we can to develop it.  We must be the person we say we are and back  it up.  Don’t let it go.