Keep Calm and Carry On

I think we've established over the course of this blog that I am a person of passions (call it obsessions if you must, but I'm not going there). I find something I like and I run with it. If it is something that can be researched, explored, and generally toyed with all the better as it means I can then spend more time and energy on it. And so it is with the English poster "Keep Calm and Carry On".

I suppose I first heard of this poster a couple of years ago. It was a slogan designed by the English government in WWII. They intended it to appear on posters and flyers as a way to boost morale and encourage calm if England was ever invaded by the enemy. England was never invaded, the slogan was never used, and it was forgotten about until 2000, when it was rediscovered.

I guess the slogan appeals to me in a personal sense mainly because I am not normally a "keep calm" type. In fact I would imagine those who know me best would say that in many situations I am prone to a bit of panic. The concept of keeping calm and carrying on was simply one that I felt I could use in my life, and I began to think of it often when confronted with situations that may have normally inspired panic. It's been surprisingly effective, and I've become a big fan of the slogan in general. What I also discovered, though, is that it's become a cult phrase and has inspired hundreds of copy-cat slogans, from the clever to the absurd. I've enjoyed these so much that I even have an album of them on my Facebook, and most of them have been my Facebook profile photo at one point or another. I thought I'd share some of my favourites here with you, dear friends. So, here goes - keep calm, and look at these!

So, there you have my favourite keep calm parodies. None are quite as inspiring as the original, but some of them are pretty damn funny, and a couple of them (about freaking out) are a lot closer to my natural instinct. Thanks to the "keep calm and carry on" slogan, though, I've learned to stop, collect myself, and then figure out my next step. I'm glad the English never had the need to use it - but I'm also glad they invented it to inspire me decades later. I'll leave you with another of my faves, dear friends, because frankly this is what I intend to do: