Kay:
Hey there, Mentorship Questers! We are coming to you on Friday, June 5th. And, today’s episode is themed on the Eve of D-Day. Now, tomorrow is June 6th, which, back in 1944, was the day the allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy to help bring about the end of World War II. And, on that day, Franklin D Roosevelt went live on the radio and gave a beautiful prayer. And, we have a quote from this prayer today for you all here on The Mentorship Quest, because what he says still rings true for us today. He says, “Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moments, let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.”
Shi:
There’s just so much to unpack here, and this quote is so beautiful. But, just for a second, let’s transport ourselves to 76 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of soldiers knew that they were landing on those beaches and that many of them would not make it. And, knowing what they were facing, and knowing that many of them were looking down the barrel (quite literally) of possibly their last day on earth, is a pretty powerful moment – and makes this statement even more powerful.
Kay:
Well, and what D-Day ended up doing was really uniting the forces that were against Nazi Germany. I mean, it was the ally forces that brought together this collection of countries that went up against this power that was really trying to take over the world. And so, this was – I don’t want to say a last ditch effort – but it was the beginning of the end. And so, many of them hadn’t seen anything like this. No one had seen a battle on this scale, EVER! It was historic in so many ways. And here, FDR is saying not to let the keenness of that spirit to be dulled, and not to let the impacts of those temporary events deter us in the unconquerable purpose of fighting for good – and fighting for freedom – and fighting for justice for all.
Shi:
And for him to say, “let not the impacts of temporary events deter us” to the D-Day soldiers risking their lives, we can apply this to our own lives as well. If someone can make that kind of statement, on that BIG of an event, then certainly this can be applied to basically every event that is even slightly smaller than D-Day…which means that it applies to all kinds of things in our current moment! And so, the gravity and depth of this quote, on the Eve of such a somber anniversary, shouldn’t be lost on us. Because, I think it’s just absolutely beautifully telling us that – what we should hold most dear is keeping that keenness of our spirit alight and aflame no matter WHAT we face. And, if we can tell that to our soldiers on D-Day, then we can certainly tell it to ourselves when we feel fat or lazy…or like a bad parent…or anything else in between!
Kay:
How often do you stop yourself from taking action toward your purpose out of fear? Be it the fear of someone else’s opinion, or the fear of maybe your own opinion…(Hey, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m kinda mean to myself sometimes). Or, maybe you’re afraid of failure, or you’ve already experienced failure to the point where you throw your arms up and you say, “No thank you!” And, maybe you’ve allowed all that negative self talk to drag you down. I mean, how often do we let our purpose be conquerable because of fleeting moments and temporal matters?
Shi:
You summed that up SO well. And, I love what you said, because I know I can get into a mood – where I just want to walk away from stuff – and the magnitude of my own personal experience and feelings FEELS so great that I want an escape. Or – (if we’re going to say it in FDR talk) – the keenness of my spirit to be dulled. AKA: I want to be moody about it, or I want to be frustrated, or I want to get out, or I want to run away, or I want to get away from it. But, I think it’s so important to not let that deter us and our unconquerable purpose, because that purpose is NOT conquerable! And then, whenever something does happen, no matter what it is, nothing can deter you from your purpose. And, I think that’s what he’s really talking about here. It’s a very steadfast and steadying quote, and one that gives us a lot of heart on the Eve of such a somber anniversary. So, let’s remind you once again, FDR from the D-Day prayer says, “Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moments, let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.”
Kay:
Now, as we stated, tomorrow is the anniversary of D-Day. So – Take a moment today to just sit in the energy of that historical day. I mean, it still took 11 months before the war was over, but the men who fought did so valiantly, and with wholehearted belief in their unconquerable purpose. And, their determination is available to Y-O-U, right NOW! Do you feel it? Good. Now, get out there and quest!
