As a child I remember seeing bits and pieces of the then President Reagan. My concern was more aligned with action heroes saving the universe and cartoons filled with adventure. Growing up in the 80's...I don't remember much of politics. The 90's were no different. I remember a sense of fear of War. I had a fear of being drafted. I admit I was totally unpatriotic as a teenager. President Bush spoke of war and a 'Desert Storm'. Of course it didn't help having a world history teacher who also was a Pentecostal preacher. I guess back then teachers could speak openly of God and Christianity in the confines of a classroom. The thought of a great end time battle scared me. That wasn't President Bush's (41) fault....he was just doing his job. Then came President Clinton. I don't think that I had matured much in the way of politics, but I knew that I didn't much care for him. The criteria for my dislike was more superficial than along party lines. Then came President Bush (43). It was just after 9/11 that I think that I 'came of age'. By that I mean that I started to care. I'm not the center of the universe.....God is. That was a great revelation. I realized that what happened to this country had an affect on me and those around me. I started caring about abortion and the definition of marriage. Not to forget national security. It became apparent that people in this world wanted to harm us and destroy this country's freedom. I honestly believe that 9/11 was a wake up call for me. I developed a great appreciation for President Bush. He, in my opinion, was the right man for that particular time. He said recently.....
"I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe. ... And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil."
I really appreciate that!
Thursday night Denise and I heard his farewell address. We were deeply sad to see him go. He was a good president. I know that many people don't like him because of his party. Many who don't like him because he supports traditional marriage or pro-life. Many don't like him because of the war. That's fine for me. I like the man. I know his job was tough. But a guy like him isn't afraid of hard work. I know that much of the world thought of him as a 'COWBOY'. But you know what.....that's not bad in my book. He's in good company. I wish that more of the world had a 'cowboy' mentality.John Wayne as Sergeant John M. Stryker (Sands of Iwo Jima):"A lot of guys make mistakes, I guess, but every one we make, a whole stack of chips goes with it. We make a mistake, and some guy don't walk away - forevermore, he don't walk away."
