As an amateur historian, I can’t help but notice how when history demands a strong, forceful leader, one emerges.
I remember that in September 1939, when Britian declared war on Germany after Hilter invaded Poland, one of the first acts the British government took was to call Winston Churchill back into the government as the First Lord of the Admiralty.
It was ironic because Churchill was in disfavor and considered a has-been because he had advocated the Dardanelles campaign which resulted in heavy causalities during World War I.
Everyone felt at the time that Churchill was doomed to obscurity because of the massive defeat of Gallipoli during 1915. It was such a devastating defeat that Mr. Churchill had to leave the government as the First Lord of the Admiralty, and everyone thought his career was over.
His stint as the First Lord of the Admiralty was short-lived because shortly thereafter, he become Prime Minister and served as Prime Minister until the end of World War II.
He was there when history called and so it appears was Volodymyr Zelensky when the Ukraine needs a strong, charismatic leader. Many thought, including the former United States administration, that this former comedian would be a pushover. The world has found out differently.
Both Winston Churchill and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are expert communicators. He has evoked passions when he uses Pearl Harbor and 911 images in his address to the U. S. Congress and echoed Winston Churchill’s “never surrender” speech of World War II when addressing the British Parliament for more help battling Russia.
Will Volodymyr Zelensky become the modern Winston Churchill?
The world got the message early in the current conflict when, the Allies offered to evacuate him and key members of his government, to safety, his reply was “I don’t want a ride, I want arms!”
HISTORY HAS CALLED, AND VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY IS ANSWERING THE CALL!
I don’t believe he will hang up the call until the power goes out.
There was an older, more experienced truck driver who had been all over the country in his career. One day, he had to train a new, much younger, inexperienced driver.
The old one allowed the younger one to drive for a while. The young one drove the big 18-wheeler for about five hours and became very tired and asked the trainer to take over for a spell.
The trainer drove for 10 hours and was not even tired.
The young man was flabbergasted and asked the old man how he could drive for hours on end and not get tired.
The old man asked him, “What do you do in the morning just before you leave your house?”
The young man replied, “I kiss my wife goodbye and tell her I am going to work.”
The old one said, “That is your problem.”
“What do you mean, ‘problem’?”
The old man said, “When I leave in the morning, I kiss my wife goodbye, but I don’t tell her I am going to work. I tell her I am going for a drive in the country.”
Everything is a matter of attitude.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s attitude reflects the courage of the Ukrainian people.
If more people shared their attitude Volodymyr Zelensky and his fellow countrymen have shown in the face of the brutal attack on Ukraine, the world would be a better place.
He could have woken up this morning and said,”I’m going to spend the day in a shelter and try to avoid the invaders.” but I venture to say,he woke up , kissed his wife, and said, “I going to go out today, kick some Russian butt, and drive these invaders back home to Russia with their tails between their legs.”
I think what is happening in Ukraine is horrific, but as an ex-military planner I think it is safe to say that the Russia military, in invading Ukraine, has gotten its nose blooded.
Unfortunately, if Russia keeps its continued onslaught up, the sheer numbers will mean a bad end for Ukraine.
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But, who is to say if we personified the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, then Putin would represent Russia, and Zelensky would represent Ukraine.
To poke a bit of fun at the Russian bear, I have taken a story that has made the rounds, set it in the UK, and turned it into a fairy tale or fable.
With that in mind, here goes
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A big city London lawyer, who just happened to be named Putin, went duck hunting in rural Scotland. The lawyer always presented a manly front. One time he posed shirtless for a London fashion magazine. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer’s field on the other side of a fence.
As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer, who just happened to be named Zelensky, drove up on his tractor and asked the lawyer what he was doing. The farmer had been a comedian in the local theater group before he turned to farming full time.
The lawyer responded, “I shot a duck and it fell into this field, and now I’m going to retrieve it.”
The old farmer replied. “The hell you are. This is my property, and you’re not coming over here.”
The indignant lawyer replied. “I’m one of the best trial lawyers in the UK, and if you don’t let me get that duck, I’ll sue you and take everything that you own.”
The old farmer smiled and said, “Apparently, you don’t know how we do things in Scotland. We settle small disagreements like this, with the Scottish Three Kick Rule.”
“What is the Scottish Three Kick Rule?” the lawyer asked.
The farmer replied, “Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up.”
The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly got down from the tractor and walked up to the city fellow.
His first kick planted the toe of his heavy work boot into the lawyer legs, which dropped him to his knees.
His second kick nearly ripped the nose off his face.
The lawyer was flat on his belly, when the farmer’s third kick to a kidney nearly caused him to give up … but didn’t.
The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, “Okay, you old tosser, now it’s my turn.”
The old farmer smiled and said, “Naw, I give up, You can keep the duck!”
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One can dream, can’t they?
My heart bleeds for the Ukrainian people but the courage the Ukrainian people have shown in their resistance also serves as an inspiration for the world.
In a world of anti-heroes, Volodymyr Zelensky remains the antithesis of the anti-hero. He has risen to history’s call to rally his people and the world to the cause of the beleaguered nation of Ukraine.
He is the “Eddie Mifflin” to the world.
You may ask, “Who is Eddie Mifflin”
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You won’t find the name Eddie Mifflin in the baseball record books, but the little-known baseball fan played a starring role in the creation of one of the sport’s most legendary storylines.
Was he the most important and influential baseball fan in history? I’ll let you decide…
The story begins in a Baltimore train station when Ted Williams was approached by a stranger.
“You’re Ted Williams, right?” the fan asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you really planning to retire when this season is over?”
Now, at the time, Williams was about to turn 36 years old. He had missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons serving in Korea.
As recounted by Mike Shatzkin, Ted’s life at that time had very clear personal preferences for Ted: “No weddings, no funerals, no ball games.”
It was in the middle of that season that the fan asked the Splendid Splinter about retirement in the train station.
“Well, you better not retire if you want to make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot,” said the fan. “The writers vote for the Hall of Fame and they hate your guts. And your numbers just aren’t good enough. If you quit after this year, you’ll never make it on the first ballot.”
Since Williams had hit well over .300 in every season he’d played, and hit with power from the very beginning, he was skeptical.
“What do you mean my numbers aren’t good enough?”
“You missed too much time fighting in the wars. Your lifetime totals just don’t cut it.”
Williams’s curiosity was piqued. He arranged to meet the fan again soon in New York. They stayed up all night talking. At the end of the session, Williams said, “Okay, what do I have to do?”
“You have to hit 500 home runs. If you do that, they can’t possibly keep you out of the Hall of Fame. They’ll have to put you in on the first ballot.”
At that time, only Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, and Mel Ott had hit 500 home runs in all of baseball history. Lou Gehrig was 4th on the all-time list with 493 home runs.
At the end of the 1954 season, Williams had 366.
The following spring, he was divorced, reported late, and started the season late. But his pledge to retire had been forgotten and he kept right on hitting.
And his new friend kept in touch with him, kept encouraging him, and kept tracking how Williams was doing against the lifetime records that had been posted before him.
Williams hit .356 in 1955 and .345 in 1956. In 1957, the season in which he turned 39, that .388 average won the batting championship by more than 20 points over Mickey Mantle’s career-best .365.
But age caught up with him in 1959. He had a painful pinched nerve in his neck that hampered him all year and, for the first time, his average fell below .300. He only hit .254.
But he finished the year with 492 home runs, one behind Gehrig, eight short of 500.
That meant just one thing: He couldn’t retire.
So he volunteered for a pay cut and came back for a final year in 1960.
And in that final season, Ted Williams climbed back above .300.
More importantly for his legacy, he hit 29 home runs, bringing his career total to 521.
And in one of the greatest moments of poetic justice in baseball history, Ted Williams even slugged a home run on his very last at-bat as a major leaguer.
Five years later, after the mandatory waiting period was over, Williams was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
And you won’t find the name Eddie Mifflin on the Splendid Splinter’s plaque in Cooperstown, nor was he mentioned in Ted’s very short acceptance speech.
But make no mistake: There might never have been a plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y. bearing the name of Theodore Samuel Williams if it wasn’t for a chance meeting in a train station one day with Edward B. Mifflin.
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Different from Eddie Mifflin, the whole world knows who Volodymyr Zelensky is. But he is the Eddie Mifflin to the world.
We can only hope his inspiration will cease the situation in Ukraine.
Like many others, I am praying Volodymyr Zelensky does not become a martyr, but if that regrettable event does occur, the world will know in one brief, lighting flash — a hero arose.
