According to records released today, British officials had drafted an emotional rallying cry for Queen Elizabeth II, in the spring of 1983, as part of an exercise simulating the outbreak of nuclear war. On radio this morning, Glenn read excerpts from the stirring speech, which invoked family, God, and patriotism.
“It is a remarkable, remarkable message crafted for the queen in 1983 when they were practicing war games,” Glenn said. “Now, imagine being the president or the queen in 1983 – what a nuclear attack would have meant back then. Our kids can't even imagine what we were facing – total and complete annihilation within 11 minutes. The world as you know it is over in 11 minutes. That's what we were facing. So what do you say as the queen?”
Below is the recently released transcript of the speech:
When I spoke to you less than three months ago we were all enjoying the warmth and fellowship of a family Christmas. Our thoughts were concentrated on the strong links that bind each generation to the ones that came before and those that will follow. The horrors of war could not have seemed more remote as my family and I shared our Christmas joy with the growing family of the Commonwealth.
Now this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds.
I have never forgotten the sorrow and the pride I felt as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set listening to my father’s inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939. Not for a single moment did I imagine that this solemn and awful duty would one day fall to me.
We all know that the dangers facing us today are greater by far than at any time in our long history. The enemy is not the soldier with his rifle nor even the airman prowling the skies above our cities and towns but the deadly power of abused technology.
But whatever terrors lie in wait for us all the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength.
My husband and I share with families up and down the land the fear we feel for sons and daughters, husbands and brothers who have left our side to serve their country. My beloved son Andrew is at this moment in action with his unit and we pray continually for his safety and for the safety of all servicemen and women at home and overseas.
It is this close bond of family life that must be our greatest defence against the unknown. If families remain united and resolute, giving shelter to those living alone and unprotected, our country’s will to survive cannot be broken.
My message to you therefore is simple. Help those who cannot help themselves, give comfort to the lonely and the homeless and let your family become the focus of hope and life to those who need it.
As we strive together to fight off the new evil let us pray for our country and men of goodwill wherever they may be.
God bless you all.
In the wake of recent events, Glenn found himself particularly taken with the speech’s strong emphasis on family. “Everybody knows it's common sense: Our families are broken. And that's what the problem is. Our families are broken. White and black, our families are broken,” Glenn said. “And if we don't get our families back together, we don't survive. We don't survive as a family, we don't survive as a community, we don't survive as a nation.”
He went on to share a poignant personal anecdote that involved him returning home last night for the first time in several weeks:
Now, I have to tell you, I came home last night and my wife had church activity. And it was our first time home last night in I don't know how many days. And I came home and I just wanted a hug from my wife, and I was exhausted and I came in. And I know she was exhausted. And she said, "Dinner's on the table, and I've got to go." I said, ‘Where are you going?” She said, “I have my church function tonight.” I'm like, “Oh, okay.”
And it was a stressful night at home because the kids were all upside down. You know what it's like after you travel, and imagine traveling in different time zones for four weeks. Kids are all upside down. They're just upside down, inside out. They don't know. I mean, they're not going to sleep until, like, midnight, 1 o’clock, and they just don't know what time it is, and it's tough.
And so I was sitting at the dinner table and then my other daughter, who is pregnant, she was there and her son – or I mean her husband, my son‑in‑law, and they've got a whole bunch of things going on. My other daughter who has a whole bunch of things going on and she's moving down. And I'm overwhelmed. I was absolutely overwhelmed last night.
Glenn admitted, quite candidly, that his family is far from perfect, and there are things he is working on as a man and his family is working on together. But, ultimately, he explained that it will require a level of personal responsibility to fix these problems.
“So would I like to have an easy answer? Would I like to be able to blame my family's problems on other things? Man, would I ever,” Glenn said. “I would love to blame it on society. I would love to blame it on whatever it is. But in the end it's not my kids' friends that are pulling them astray. It's not the video games. It's not the computers. It's not society. In the end, I am still in charge of what happens under my roof.”
