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Over radio, fear had fed on fear; everyone had wanted a happy ending, and when eventually it did end, the best possible construction was put upon the agreement. Chamberlain was the hero of the hour, as much in America as in Britain. It took a while for people to realize that he was a weak old man who had sold out a resolute and embattled ally for a worthless Hitler promise. Churchill knew it, and said, “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war.” Roosevelt knew it; to his ambassador in Portugal he wrote, “The dictator threat from Europe is a good deal closer to the United States.” Murrow and Shirer knew it. Meeting in Paris, they agreed that war was likely after next year’s harvest. And H. V. Kaltenborn knew it; even before Chamberlain’s visit to Berchtesgaden he said, “My own feeling is that it will be little more than a truce. There is grave doubt as to whether or not the visit will bring peace.”
The Glory and the Dream
William Manchester
One thing that stability training has taught me is that most “acute” injuries, such as a torn ACL or a hamstring tear, are rarely sudden. While their onset may be rapid—instantaneous back or neck or knee pain—there was likely a chronic weakness or lack of stability at the foundation of the joint that was the true culprit. This is the real iceberg in the water. The “acute” injury is just the part you see, the manifestation of the underlying weakness. So if we are to complete the goals we have set in our own Centenarian Decathlon, we need to be able to anticipate and avoid any potential injuries that lie in our path, like icebergs at sea. This means understanding stability and incorporating it into our routine. Stability is tricky to define precisely, but we intuitively know what it is. A technical definition might be: stability is the subconscious ability to harness, decelerate, or stop force. A stable person can react to internal or external stimuli to adjust position and muscular tension appropriately without a tremendous amount of conscious thought.
Anyone can rebuild your product today. Especially with the rise of “low-code” and “no-code” platforms, the ability to write code is no longer a requirement for starting a software company. Then there's the rapid rise of coding bootcamps and schools that are churning out more engineers every day. If you were counting on getting a head start on building technology as your competitive moat, you're likely to be disappointed. Community, on the other hand, can't be copied, because community isn't software. Someone can copy the look, feel, and functionality of your forum, but they'll lack the people, relationships, emotional investment, and social identity that an established community has. Community takes time to build, which can be a concern for companies who like to move fast and want to get results right away. A realistic timeline for a community to drive value for a business is more like 6–12 months. And it can take years for a community to truly mature. But what that means is that it will take a competitor just that long to build their own community. And if you've already owned a topic in the mind of the consumer by building community, it's very hard to get someone to leave a community they already feel emotionally invested in.
The Business of Belonging
David Spinks
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