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Over the last week, our nation has taken time to honor the life of George H.W. Bush, our 41st president. Thousands viewed him in the Capitol in Washington DC and in Houston. We televised two of this three funeral services. Thousands more stood along the tracks while his presidential train took him to his final resting place in College Station, Texas.
Honor is the respect we owe someone because of the kind of person he or she is. For the character that they demonstrate. We have spent the last week honoring President Bush because, no matter where we stand politically, we respect the man he was, what he did with his life and the example he set. All for us.
If we’re smart, we will take powerful lessons from his life to make our own individual lives and our nation better. It is the best way to become good people ourselves and to honor a man who gave so much to all of us.
The life of President George H. W. Bush has many lessons for us, big and small, personal and national. Let’s talk about four of them:
- Strength and Resiliency
- America
- Unity
- Love and Fruitfulness
STRENGTH AND RESILIENCY
In our world today, some young people seem to have the idea that they are entitled to a good life, relatively free from pain, in which the world revolves around them.
to be taught to see themselves as victims of one kind or another. Then they are taught that they can use that victim-hood as leverage to demand something they are told they are entitled to.
Being a victim is seen as a way that young people can empower themselves. To be fair, I am not blaming the young people who have this attitude for having it. It is what they have been taught.
Today’s “snowplow parents” clear all obstacles out of the way to protect their children from anxiety. Parents complete their kids’ college applications. They show up at their kids’ work to talk to the boss. Many parents do everything they can to cover for their child’s failures.
I don’t think this approach is a formula for success in life. Even though our society has more money, education and technology than any time in history, our young people are more anxious and depressed than ever. Many young people seem hopeless and adrift. They don’t seem resilient. Suicide has become the second leading cause of death for them.
Let’s contrast that with the life of George H.W. Bush.
George Bush was part of the Greatest Generation—that group of people who grew up in America during the Depression and led us through World War II and the Cold War. The Greatest Generation had a character and toughness formed from the hunger and poverty of the Dust Bowl and Depression. A strength that we seem to lack today.
George Bush was undoubtedly blessed to be born into a family with money. His father was an investment banker who later became a US senator. He went to one of the best prep schools in the nation and, after World War II, graduated Yale.
On the other hand, Bush faced tragedy and hardship in his life.
At just 20 years old, President Bush was a Navy pilot in World War II who was shot down on a mission over some tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Bush’s two crewmen on that mission died. Nine men from other aircraft escaped their planes. Bush was the only one rescued by Americans. The other eight were captured by the Japanese, tortured and executed.
Put yourself or a 20-year-old you know in an airplane in the middle of the Pacific… getting shot down… then losing your own crew-mates and more than 10 others on your team.
That wasn’t the only hardship Bush faced. He married Barbara while in the Navy and they had six children. Barbara and George were only 28-29 years old when they lost their 3-year-old daughter, Robin, to leukemia. How painful was the loss? George wrote his daughter Robin a letter:
There is about our house a need. We need some soft blonde hair to offset those crew cuts. We need a doll house to stand firm against our forts and racquets and thousand baseball cards. We need someone who’s afraid of frogs. We need a little one who can kiss without leaving egg or jam or gum. We need a girl. We had one once — she’d fight and cry and play and make her way, just like the rest. But there was about her a certain softness. She was patient. Her hugs were a just little less wiggly … But she is still with us. We need her and yet we have her. We can’t touch her and yet we can feel her. We hope she’ll stay in our house for a long, long time. Love, Pop
When Bush’s grand-daughter Jenna talked with him about death, he told her that, in some ways, he was looking forward to dying to “being reunited with these people that I’ve lost.” He said he hoped to see Robin, but wasn’t sure if it would be “Robin as the three-year-old that she was, this kind of chubby, vivacious child or if she’ll come as a middle-aged woman…”
Jenna continues, “Robin was the daughter this giant of a man lost years before to leukemia. The little girl he held tightly who spoke the phrase I have heard Gampy repeat for my entire life, forever knitting Robin’s voice into the tightly woven fabric of our family: “I love you more than tongue can tell.”
George Bush was blessed being born into a family of means. And in World War II and in his family, he encountered deep tragedy that the rest of us pray we never experience. For the rest of his life, Bush thought about how fortunate he was to survive being shot down. For the rest of his life, he thought about his beloved Robin.
Despite these tragedies, Bush never saw himself as a victim. These tragedies became opportunities for Bush to become stronger and more resilient. He transformed his love for Robin into a love he gave to those he led. His survival in World War II made him see himself as someone with an even deeper duty to serve others. To give himself to America. To give himself to us.
AMERICA
Today, many in our society seem to be ashamed or even hate our nation, America. They tell us everything about the United States is terrible. All negative. They talk only about our sins in history and say almost nothing positive about our nation and people.
In contrast, George Bush was a strong believer in the fundamental goodness of America. He served our nation throughout his life as a pilot in the United States Navy, as a businessman, and as congressman, ambassador and president. He gave his full commitment to all of us because he believed that America, while undoubtedly imperfect, was united not by ethnicity or tribe, but by the idea that together, with equal dignity and value, we can strive for goodness. As a nation and as individuals. America is a shining city on the hill, a beacon, a light, an example for other nations.
George Bush spent his entire life fighting for an America that stood for individual freedom and goodness in stark contrast with the freedom-crushing authoritarianism of World War II Japan and Germany, and the Cold War Soviet Union. Indeed, it was under George Bush’s presidency that communism fell in Europe and tens of millions of people were freed.
George Bush’s life is a testament to the idea that America, while imperfect, is nevertheless an idea, a nation and a people worth fighting for because goodness is worth fighting for. He gave most of his life to that fight for goodness.
UNITY
And that brings us to unity.
Today we live in a society that is divided by sharply different views about the fundamental nature of life and community and Truth. Our political debates have become very nasty, negative and visceral. The media seem deeply biased one way or another.
People are afraid to talk because they don’t want to be publicly bullied and terrorized by those with opposing ideas.
In contrast, President Bush lived a life that united us through a shared goal—our pursuit of goodness and Happiness as individuals and as a nation. Over the last week, story after story was told about how Bush brought people together.
One story was conveyed by Dana Perino from a senior CIA official who, early in his young career, was assigned to a post away from CIA Headquarters. He took pride in being in not being one of the headquarters people.
His boss finally forced him to go to a class at headquarters. He loathed the assignment. He intentionally sat away from others in class. He segregated himself from them at lunch by sitting alone in the corner with his newspaper.
That was until a voice on the other side of his newspaper asked if he could sit with the young CIA officer. And that voice was CIA Director George Bush. From the story:
“We talked about duty and service. I told him about my job and how I was there for a class… I left out the part about me being a jerk and not mixing in.
He opined that those classes were a good way to bond with people from different parts of the organization. I believe he sensed I wasn’t doing that because I was eating alone. I was embarrassed…
[After lunch] I went back to the class. Late. I told them why and was bombarded with questions about him. I had an epiphany and became a full participant.
He left me with a message I hadn’t understood – not only was I learning from my classmates, but they were also learning from me.
A few weeks later a handwritten note found its way to me at my office. He thanked me for our conversation at lunch; it said he had learned a lot!”
That is a great story about how President Bush brought unity by taking the time to care, personally, for others. It was a small but important act by Director Bush that transformed that person’s life.
Another story of Bush bringing unity happened this week. In the midst of all the bickering and divisiveness in our nation, we came together, in unity, for a week to honor George Bush. The divisiveness died down. President Trump’s twitter feed seemed to quiet.
President Bush made a point of asking President Trump to be at the funeral in the National Cathedral. All the living presidents and their wives sat together, in the front row, united by their respect for George Bush. For the example he set. For the Truth he lived. Even in his death, George Bush showed us how important it is to come together, in unity.
LOVE AND FRUITFULLNESS
Today, our understanding of love has become increasingly hollow and empty.
When we use the word “love” we’re often talking about how we “love” certain kinds of food or music or sports teams. “Love” has often come to mean “I like it a lot.”
And when we use the word “love” in terms of other people, we often mean erotic love. Physical desire. It is a desire that is focused on the other person only to the extent that they can be used for our own pleasure.
You don’t hear the phrase “making love” much anymore. Instead, we have sex. Bang. Hunch. F**k.
Uncommitted cohabitation has increased. Marriage has come to mean little more than an official contract between parties.
The most beautiful and precious result of love and marriage—children—has decreased.
Our nation is increasingly narcissistic. Despite having the most education and money and technology in history, Americans feel less-connected, and more anxious and alone than ever. As we lose love, we lose unity. Our nation becomes increasingly divided, and more nasty and hateful. We become fragmented and decrease.
The signs are obvious. With the loss of real love, we far less happy. We die younger. And we no longer bear the fruit of love, children. The birthrate in America has plummeted.
In contrast, George Bush made a point of connecting with people. He loved them. People knew he cared.
As CIA Director, he made a point of connecting with that junior CIA officer. Though defeated in a tough presidential campaign by Bill Clinton, he later became friends with Clinton. His tens of thousands of handwritten notes demonstrated that he cared about people.
There was one person to whom George Bush was most deeply united. His wife, Barbara Bush. He was in love and married and deeply committed to her for 73+ years.
How important is love? George Bush accomplished a lot of important things in his life, but one quality had the deepest, most emotional impact on everyone at the funeral. It was his son’s reference, in the eulogy, to George holding Barbara’s hand. On earth. Now in Heaven.
That unconditional love that George and Barbara Bush had for each other wasn’t limited to them. It changed the world. From their love came six children and numerous grandchildren. One of those children a president. Another a governor. All of them creating and raising their own families.
George and Barbara Bush teach us that the most beautiful thing in the world is love and commitment for each other. It is creation in its most fundamental form.
——-
The life of George Herbert Walker Bush has some powerful lessons for us.
We can’t let bad things crush us. We can’t be passive, wallowing in tragedy, seeing ourselves as victims, waiting for others to fulfill our demands. That mentality makes us feel entitled. It divides us from each other. It makes us unhappy, less-loving and less-human. It destroys our community, and you and me as individuals.
The life of George Bush shows us that tragedy can be the opportunity to love and serve others more deeply. It can unite us as individuals, families and a nation, continuously focused on becoming better people and a better America. An America that is united by a focus on goodness and enriched (not divided) by diversity in talent and culture.
With that drive for goodness and unified by love, we create better selves, bringing new life to our families, our communities and our nation.
I think those are some powerful lessons we can learn from the life of George H. W. Bush. Living those lessons not only makes us better people, but is the most powerful way to honor the life and service of our 41st president.
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Frank Marrone On December 9, 2018 at 4:41 pm
Awesome!!!