This is gonna be my last political post for a while, then back to the regular stuff.
One thing we have lost as a nation especially among young people is respect. Respect for people in power, authority or simply our elders. As George W. Bush finishes his last 2-3 months as President, I’m saddened at the lack of respect our nation has for him. You can say what you want about his policies, you don’t have to agree with them, I disagree with some of his policies, especially fiscally, but I still carry incredible respect for the man.
Its really easy to criticize leaders. That’s one thing I’ve learned in leadership for sure. You lead, you will be criticized. You have no idea what its like unless you are in that leaders shoes. There is not one person on this planet, besides maybe his wife, but she still does not fully understand, what it was like for President Bush to have to lead our nation through 9/11, to make decisions based on intelligence our government had about sending troops to war, knowing that some will die. I can’t imagine that weight on my life.
The weight and responsibility of being the leader of the free world is unfathomable to me and by in large the American media does nothing but mock him, late night talk show hosts make fun of him and tell everyone how stupid they think he is. He may not be the best public speaker but I would like to give some perspective on some amazing things I think he has accomplished in his presidency.
First, he led our nation through the biggest attack we have ever had on our home soil. He acted swiftly, he unified our nation and I believe did the best with the information he had at the time. He successfully captured Sadaam Hussein, which people forget was an evil man. He gassed and murdered over 300,000 Kurds in Northern Iraq. We may have lost about 3,500 troops but tens of thousands of lives were saved because of President Bush’s boldness to take action. They may not be American lives that were saved, but since when has that stopped our military from acting when an atrocity was happening. Iraq is almost functioning without a US military presence there. They held their first democratic election and the economy is booming over there. Time will tell of the long term success but that is massive.
Many people don’t know about this, but he has done more for religious freedom around the world than any other President in history according to many church leaders. In nations like Egypt, I have heard pastors saying that they are scared of what will happen after his term is up. They are not sure they will still be able to practice religion in freedom after Bush leaves office cause its something that he took very seriously and he used the bully pulpit to enforce religious freedoms in multiple nations where people were being tortured and murdered because of their faith in Christ. I respect that very much.
All in all, I feel as though our nation has lost complete respect for that office. We mock our presidents, turn them into late night talk show fodder and talk about them like they are our homeboy, not the leader of the free world. We need to respect the man and the office. I’m not saying we can’t ever tell a joke, but I think we go way too far.
Leadership can be a very lonely place, probably that role more than any other on the planet. I pray that President Bush is remembered for his dedication to religious freedoms all around the world, for his boldness to stop a massacring of hundreds of thousands of a people group in Northern Iraq and not how the American media portrays him. He, just like every other President before him is due our respect. I will respect President elect Barack Obama despite the fact that I disagree with his policies, but because he is my leader whom I will pray for, the Bible calls me to submit to his authority in Romans 13, because I cannot comprehend the amount of pressure that will be on his life, and because he will be the new leader of the free world.
It amazes me how so many armchair quarterbacks or in this case armchair presidents jump on the hate bandwagon towards our current President. There truly is nothing sacred anymore. Although there is nothing wrong with disagreement, you are right when you say we have taken things too far.
I believe a generation that loses respect for leadership in the way we have is one that will lose respect in history for we will likely repeat the mistakes we were so quick to criticize. That may be a generalized statement but it is often true. We must be careful to not be led by our emotions or popular opinion, allot of the criticism is mislead and uninformed thanks to the media hoopla and a people unwilling to learn facts.
I’m posting this on Facebook!
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic” — a speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, 1910
Great post Ross. I whole-heartedly agree. RESPECT.