Our Leaders and Our Lives

Well, it's the season that long time readers know I love - the Valentine's Day/Presidents' Day stretch of February. In the past, I have paid tribute to both of these holidays and, quite feebly, to the leaders in whose honor we celebrate Presidents' Day. I have shared Presidential quotes with you before and I shall do so now.

Some of our Presidents have uttered words that their contemporaries/constituents must have found inspirational and that continue to illustrate high ideals of great people in a great nation to this day.

"One man with courage is a majority." - Thomas Jefferson
"Character is the only secure foundation of the state." - John Calvin Coolidge
"There is nothing wrong in America that cannot be fixed with what is right in America" - William Jefferson Clinton

Others have spoken words that remind us, sometimes all too vividly, that our Commanders-in-Chief are, despite their high place, as human as any person in any station...

"As to the Presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it." - Martin Van Buren
"Politics, when I am in it, makes me sick." - William Howard Taft
"I like the job I have, but if I had to live my life over again, I would like to have ended up a sports writer." - Richard Milhous Nixon
"Rarely is the question asked, 'Is our children learning?'" - George Walker Bush

And sometimes our Presidents called things the way they were at the time, only to see the future severely alter the truth of their musings...

"Good ball players make good citizens." - Chester Alan Arthur

In these days between Lincoln's birthday and Washington's, let us honor the memories and the efforts of all those who've led our nation. Hail to the Chieves! (I just decided that's the appropriate plural for chief. Makes sense - think leaf, loaf, thief, etc.)

In other news, I periodically - and probably more often than most - find myself involved in moments about which I can stop and wonder, "What am I doing here?" or "How is this my life?" or "Really? I mean... REALLY?" This morning, I experienced a number of those moments in a short span of time as I found myself back at White Station High School, my alma mater, judging the 31st annual Queen of Clubs pageant, a contest between young women, each of whom was representing one of the school's many clubs. It was funny to be back, to be part of that world again for a moment, and to see what entertained the auditorium-full of current high schoolers.

While most of my friends were at work, I was scoring high school kids on their club-related original costumes (like the Latin Club's "L.A. Tin Man" or the Jewish Student Association's "Darth Seder"), their poise in evening gowns, and their various talents (including the girl that solves a Rubik's Cube in two minutes). I guess I can not fully and properly explain how strange my life is sometimes. I really wish I had a tv camera following me around all the time. Then you could see for yourself. It would be such a great, hilarious, touching, and gripping show! Yes, it is a strange life, but fantastic. "Do as much as you can with the time that you have in the place where you are." (That is not mine. More on that in a future post.) Direct a children's play, sing in a Jewish rock band, do stand-up comedy, work hard, judge pageants, coach basketball, be entertained... whatever your list of "stuff" is, do it. All together, that stuff becomes a life filled with memorable moments, and you can never have too many of those. For as FDR said, "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort."