\u201c\u2026 I wonder sometimes if we have forgotten who we are. But we\u2019re the people who sundered the nation rather than allow a sin called \u2018slavery\u2019 \u2014 and we\u2019re the people who rose from the ghettos and deserts.<\/i><\/p>\n
And we weren\u2019t saints \u2014 but we lived by standards. We celebrated the individual \u2014 but we weren\u2019t self-centered. We were practical \u2014 but we didn\u2019t live only for material things. We believed in getting ahead \u2014 but blind ambition wasn\u2019t our way\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2026 I want a kinder, gentler nation\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
In his acceptance speech of his party\u2019s nomination for President in August of 1988, George H. W. Bush called for that “kinder, gentler nation.”<\/p>\n
If only we had those days back again\u2026 if only the younger generation knew those days\u2026 days when calls to kindness were first and foremost.<\/p>\n
George H.W. Bush passed away yesterday at the age of 94, some seven months after his ever articulate wife, Barbara, also passed. And even though many mocked Bush\u2019s call to kindness years ago, in the wake of his perceived lack of eloquence and charisma, there was always a sense of authenticity to said call over the course of his life.<\/p>\n
After losing his re-election bid to Bill Clinton, for example, Bush left the following handwritten note to his successor:<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Bill,<\/i><\/p>\n
When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.<\/i><\/p>\n There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I\u2019m not a very good one to give advice; but just don\u2019t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.<\/i><\/p>\n You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.<\/i><\/p>\n Your success now is our country\u2019s success. I am rooting hard for you.<\/i><\/p>\n Good luck\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n George\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Friends, that is evidence of a kinder, gentler nation.<\/p>\n The current cultural challenge seems not that we don\u2019t witness that evidence so often; the current cultural challenge is that we no longer accept such as good. I thus sometimes wonder if, as Bush said, we have forgotten who we are.<\/p>\n Said Bill Clinton yesterday, acknowledging Bush\u2019s note:<\/p>\n \u201cNo words of mine or others can better reveal the heart of who he was than those he wrote himself. He was an honorable, gracious and decent man\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Two other specific aspects seem especially notable to me about this honorable, gracious, and decent man\u2026 first, his boldness; starting with the jump he made after the Japanese shot down his fighter plane over the Pacific during World War II in 1944, Bush made seven more parachute jumps \u2014 including on his 80th, 85th, and 90th birthdays.<\/p>\n And second, his faithful heart\u2026 while political pundits and onlookers may focus on his professional career, no doubt Bush\u2019s prompting for calls of kindness was the fruit of his heart. George and Barbara lost their eldest daughter to leukemia just shy of her fourth birthday. It seemed to always affect them deeply, as they admitted in recent years they thought of young Robin every single day, no matter the decades later.<\/p>\n But remembering Robin wasn\u2019t solely sorrowful. Said Barbara in an interview with \u201cToday,\u201d \u201cRobin to me is a joy. She\u2019s like an angel to me, and she\u2019s not a sadness or a sorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n May we remember George H.W. Bush with that same sense of joy\u2026 remembering him not as a saint, but as one who lived by standards\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 standards that never sacrificed kindness nor respect.<\/p>\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201c\u2026 I wonder sometimes if we have forgotten who we are. But we\u2019re the people who sundered the nation rather than allow a sin called \u2018slavery\u2019 \u2014 and we\u2019re the people who rose from the ghettos and deserts. And we weren\u2019t saints \u2014 but we lived by standards. We celebrated the individual \u2014 but we … <\/p>\n