"If you are going through hell, keep going" - Churchill

This particular aphorism, given to us by Winston Churchill, sends a universal message that everyone, everywhere, can relate to at one point or another.  I imagine when he first said it the tone he used was slightly harsh and meant to pack a punch.  Propositions abound in this saying.  I feel it has multiple meanings and the ability to be applied to various different situations and circumstances.  One of the truths I believe this aphorism is trying to tell us is that the only way to get past the troubled times in our lives is to experience and, ultimately, work through them.  This isn’t to say it is telling us to just accept pain or defeat, but rather the exact opposite.  When we are going through a rough patch, feeling sorry for ourselves or experiencing pain the answer is not to hold up the white flag and stay in the thick of our misery.  Wallowing in it will not miraculously make the “hell” go away and although we may feel better for a short while, ultimately we will be in the same place tomorrow as we are today.  Circumstances do not change on their own, only we can make things better for ourselves.  Therefore, if it is a ‘hell” we have encountered, the only way out is to find a way to get through it.  This implores the audience to be pro-active, but that is just one of the lessons this aphorism shares.  Another proposition that I think is made very clear in these 8 words is that we should, we must, believe that there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel.   No matter how hard things may get, or seem, suffering doesn’t last forever, and good things always follow.  It is an exceptionally difficult truth to accept and have hope in, especially when the distress is great.  If we are consumed by agony, stress, or hurt it can be almost impossible to see beyond the storm and it takes a strong and faithful person to see ahead to brighter days instead of dreary ones.    This teaches us a lesson about finding strength within ourselves.  To go along with discovering our own strengths, perhaps Churchill is saying to us that perseverance will pay off, that we will be rewarded for our time in misery if we can merely stick it out, see it through.  This aphorism clearly says “don’t lose hope, don’t give up – keep living, you will survive”.

This phrase touches me for several reasons.  It takes a common, habitual phrase that is generally used metaphorically, “going through hell” and turns it into the literal.  In this phrase, hell is indeed a place through which one is going.  Because the audience presumably recognizes that being there – in hell – is a dreadful dilemma, the best thing for them to do is continue through it until they are in a new place, outside of hell.  The aphorism, to my mind, uses humor because it changes the way we feel about a relatively ordinary statement and forces us to see it in a whole new light.  It takes what is normally a serious saying and almost brushes the seriousness away.  It tells the audience that it doesn’t particularly feel bad for them and it has better things to do than sit around and listen to someone whine about their problems.  The turn of phrase is brilliant as it touches on numerous issues, such as how futile it actually is to complain about our circumstances, and forces us to focus on what we can do to change them.  We can’t talk our way out of “hell”.  We can’t whine, grumble or wish our way out of our problems and the daily challenges we will face.  Our suffering will not ease just because we want it to.

                In a complete rearrangement of emphasis, the repetition of the word “going” brings our focus away from the traditional viewpoint that the noun – or, hell – is what’s important and instead focuses our attention on the verb, going.  The specifics, the metaphorical “hells” that we face, become less central while the process of overcoming them is all of a sudden crucial.  I think the diction that Churchill chose for this phrase - “going through hell” - is much more effective than prolonging the sentence to say something like “if you are having difficult times, push through them”.  The root of the sentence is a common colloquialism, used by everyone at some point in their lives and easily registered with. “Going through hell” gets the message across clearer than any other phrasing could because the audience knows what it is like to feel this despair.  The diction also allows for the repetition and play on words that was aforementioned and makes the phrase lyrical.  “If you’re going through hell, keep going” is a witty, direct way of reminding us that only we can make changes for ourselves and that hell isn’t our destiny…brighter, better things await us.