Speaker Dr. Tod Worner & Host Tim Westermeyer
Thank you to Tim Westermeyer for hosting another terrific meeting. Tim brought us speaker Dr. Tod Worner, a man of many talents and interests. In addition to his duties as a physician at West Health, Dr. Worner is a spiritual blogger for Patheos and avid history lover. He chose "The Leadership of Winston Churchill" for his talk to Wayzata Rotary. Winston Churchill is a man who changed the trajectory of the modern world through his stubborn courage in the 20th century, particularly the days leading up to and during WWII. Churchill was a British Parliamentarian from 1900-1965, and while we remember him best for his leadership against Hitler, he was a human who suffered many failures as well. While he had enjoyed some early successes as a Parliamentarian, by the 1930's he was on the outside of British power: he'd lost his cabinet position, his friends, and his influence. During these "wilderness years" he took unpopular positions, yet was one of the few who foresaw and foretold the rearmament of Germany and subsequent war that would come from Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler and gifting of Eastern European geographies to the Reich. According to Dr. Worner, "when Chamberlain was wringing his hands, Churchill was shaking his fist", and when Hitler's appetitite for power became too large to ignore, Churchill finally got his chance to lead and save Britain (and perhaps the world) from Hitler's plunder. Dr. Worner can be reached at todwarner@gmail.com
